Sunshine in the Dark
by czarina-kathryn
Summary: Life changed for Lily Evans over the summer, but now she's trying to set things right with James Potter, the man of her dreams who happens to smell pretty darn good. Finished!
1. In which Lily is depressed

This isn't mine; it's J.K. Rowling's.

**Sunshine in the Dark**

Chapter One: In which Lily is Depressed

Lily Evans sighed as she looked out the window; it was raining. She hated rain. She used to love it. It was so fluid and carefree; it lowered her inhibitions and allowed her to trapeze around like she didn't have a care in the world. Nope, there was nothing more satisfying than dancing in the rain. At least that's what she would have said if you asked her last year. Now she hated it. It was so cold and abusive; she'd never seen that before. She sighed again, this time not at the rain, but at herself. She'd changed so much and honestly the old Lily had been better.

"What is it?" Her best friend Ally asked from where she was sprawled on her bed.

"Oh, nothing," Lily replied, "It's just raining."

"What's wrong with the rain? You used to love the rain." Ally said sitting up and looking piercingly at Lily.

Lily hated it when Ally did things like this; she hated lying to Ally, but when conversations took this turn she was always forced to.

"I just don't anymore."

"Lily, tell me what's wrong. You haven't been yourself since you came back from summer break. What happened? And I don't even want to hear you say you haven't changed because I know you have."

"I wasn't going to deny it," Well of course she would have, but she obviously couldn't after what Ally said.

"So what's bothering you? What happened this summer?" Ally asked her with such a concerned look on her face that Lily was almost tempted to tell her what had happened; what she'd been through, and why she couldn't find the energy to laugh anymore. Almost. As quickly as the urge came it faded; Ally was happier not knowing. She didn't need to be burdened with Lily's problems. Ally just wouldn't understand; the most pressing thing in her mind was the upcoming quiz in Transfiguration and who would be Sirius Black's next girl.

"People change you know!" Lily shouted angrier at herself than at Ally. "Just because I'm not exactly the same doesn't mean something's wrong with me. So you know what? Get off my back about it. It's not your concern."

"You know what Lily? I'm sick of this," Ally shouted back, "I'm sick of you denying something's wrong because something is. You never laugh anymore and gods I don't think I've seen you smile all week. And I don't even know what's going on with you and Potter. You two used to have so much fun annoying the hell out of each other and now all you do is snap at him. It's one thing not to talk to your best friend because I'm going to be here for you no matter what and I've known you forever and I care about you, but it's another thing altogether to ignore and yell at a man who loves you. DON'T you _dare_ look away from me Lily Evans! You know as well as I do that Potter loves you! You owe him an explanation, even before me. Ugh! I've had it. If you don't want to talk, fine. If you decide you do, you know where to find me." With a final huff Ally turned at stormed out of the dorm room.

"_Great Lily,_" she thought, "_Now you're alone and friendless. Are you happy about that?_" The sad thing was Ally was right. Lily did owe Potter an explanation. Last year she'd practically promised to go out with him and now she couldn't. The problem was of course that Potter wouldn't care for her reason. Not that it wasn't a good reason, it was, but it wasn't one that would stop someone like James Potter. No, things were better as they were. She may be alone, but at least no more people would die because of her.

The next morning at breakfast Lily sat by herself; it was best that she encourage the growing rift between her and Ally. Lily hadn't had the strength to break off their friendship before, but now that the opportunity presented itself she intended to use it. Life had changed so much over the past few months. She'd left Hogwarts so oblivious, so happy. Now she was a complete wreck, depressed, snappish, and on the verge of falling apart. She'd learned a lot about darkness over the past few months and knew she wanted nothing to do with it, but sometimes, when she let her mind wander to that painful subject, she wondered if after being immersed in the darkness for so long would she ever be able to get out. There had to be a way, she had to believe that, it was the only thing she had to cling to, that one little ray of hope. If she lost that she would drown completely. Lily was so immersed in her thoughts she didn't hear anyone come up behind her, so when someone laid a hand on her shoulder she let out a cry of surprise and cringed as though expecting a blow.

"Lily?"

"_Damn Reflexes,_" She thought. Sure it was a useful reflex where she'd been a month ago, but back here at Hogwarts it was decidedly out of place. She really would have to work on controlling it. In fact she was doing rather well; yesterday she managed not to desperately shift away while Flitwick helped her with some complicated wand work, but it had been a near thing. Turning around she said one word, "Potter."

"Are you alright? You seem kind of jumpy."

"I'm fine," Lily snapped, "So back off!"

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize I'd gotten too close," James whispered backing up a step with a tender look of worry on his face. Lily couldn't take it, she looked away. "Can I take one small step forward Lily flower?" His reference to her favorite childhood game of Mother May I was so surprising she couldn't help bursting out in laughter. She hadn't laughed in ages. It felt so good. When she looked up at James she saw he was smiling and taking a great deal of care in pretending to sneak forward, which only caused her to laugh harder. She finally managed to stop as James slid onto the bench next to her and said, "It's good to hear you laugh Lily, it lights up my world." Gently he brushed a lock of hair out of her face. "You're so beautiful when you're happy. I wish I could help you laugh more often."

His words pulled Lily back to reality, back to herself. She'd let James weave a dream of happiness around her for those brief seconds, but she knew it was an illusion. She could never be happy; she could never be with him.

"I don't need any help from you Potter," She snapped trying to make it look like she meant it.

"Why do you always push me away Lily? It's so obvious that something's wrong and I want to help fix it. Please, just give me a chance," He said pulling her hand into his.

"I don't need help," Lily repeated. It was almost like a mantra; if she repeated it enough it might become reality. She needed help more than she needed her next breath, but she couldn't give in. She couldn't hurt him, even if it killed her.

"Yes you do! And I'm going to try and help you even if it kills me," a sentiment so similar to her own. There were tears in her eyes. She wanted this so badly. She leapt to her feet pulling her hand from his; she had to get out of here. As she reached the door to the great hall she looked back and for one blazing second her eyes met James'. The whole world seemed to fall away. It was as if she was standing in front of him without her lies without her carefully constructed walls and without her mask. It was too much; she turned and flat out ran. She finally stopped near the transfiguration room and caught her breath while she waited for her tears to stop falling. She wouldn't be able to hold herself together much longer if this kept up. He was so sweet and wonderful and just plain perfect. She wanted him to help her; she wanted him to say she wouldn't hurt him, but she would and that was a risk she couldn't take.

She slogged through classes that day ignoring everyone and burying herself in work. Even in History of Magic when they didn't do anything she kept busy finishing other homework. Being busy kept her mind off the mess she called her life. Lily dropped her over flowing bag of books on her bed and grabbed her old worn cloak. She owed herself a treat. Taking a side exit from the castle, Lily began to aimlessly wander the grounds, enjoying the brisk cool air as it penetrated her cloak. Maybe it would snow for Christmas. The day after next nearly all of the students would be leaving for the holidays. Not that she would be celebrating, but it would still be nice to have a white Christmas. After all, this would be her first Christmas at Hogwarts and snow might make it a little less lonely since all of her friends were going home for Christmas. No, no, all her _former_ friends. Even her own mind was conspiring against her. She couldn't be friends with them; she had to accept that. Although maybe the total isolation she'd thought was necessary at the beginning wasn't as crucial as she'd assumed. It would probably be alright to have acquaintances. Yes, acquaintances would be very nice indeed. Even _He_ wouldn't go after them. Would _He_? Lily wasn't worth the risk of friendship. Oh, but what a blessing it would be to finally have someone who knew what she'd been through. Someone to tell about her nightmares and comfort her fears. Settling by the lake the cold winter air gave a particularly harsh gust and whipped through her thin cloak like an icy knife. Shivering, Lily hugged herself. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back letting the wind flow around her, tangling her hair behind her. Shaking her head, she tried to block out the image of the cold black water that was imprinted in her brain. It was so tempting. She could just drown her problems and never have to face the world again.

"Cold?" whispered a voice as warm arms enveloped her from behind.

At first she struggled, yet another reflex, and then she realized who it was, "James."

"If you're going to stand outside in the freezing weather then at least wear a decent cloak, so I won't have to worry about you." While he talked he tucked the edges of his cloak around her, pulling her closer to his chest.

"You're so warm," Lily said wondering at the warmth that she'd been without since this summer. She could feel his laugh rumbling up through him as he chuckled in her ear.

"Well, I am wearing a winter cloak. And it probably doesn't hurt that I was just at quidditch practice." The laughter left his voice as it deepened into what Lily could only call seduction, "You see, I couldn't help but notice while I flew that a beautiful angel was standing here by the water. So I had to come investigate. Imagine my surprise to find that the beautiful enchantress who had ensnared me was a mortal." As his last words drifted away he lowered his lips to her cheek and said, "I want to help you."

"No, Potter, you don't. What's wrong with me would take years of help to overcome. I know that you have other plans for your future James. There's no need to throw that all away for me." Lily let out a wet laugh here. She couldn't explain why, but she had started to cry. "World class quidditch player, James Potter," she whispered. "I'll join your fan club and I'll cheer in the crowd when you catch the snitch. That's all I want. That's all I ask for."

James spun her around so she was facing him, "This may come as I surprise to you, but that's not all I want you to ask for. I don't even want to play quidditch after Hogwarts. It's not that there's anything wrong with it, but that's not what I want." His eyes left hers as he looked over her shoulder, like he was visualizing a future only he could see. "I want to be an Auror, like my dad and I'm hoping to bypass on the fan club. I want to settle down and start a family," His eyes refocused on her, "With the woman I love."

Lily looked away.

"Lily, I know you're in pain, but I want you to know I would never hurt you. Give me a chance; let me love you."

"James," she whispered, her voice cracking unevenly with emotion, "I don't want to lose you."

"I'll never leave you Lily. I love you."

Pulling away, Lily stumbled backwards and her feet were soaked as she reached the edge of the lake's icy water. "James, you don't mean that."

"I do. Lily, listen to me, please. I don't know why you changed your mind about us over the summer, I don't know why you barely smile, and I don't know why your grades are dropping. Hell, I don't even know why you're standing out here trying to catch your death, but you know what I do know? I know that the Lily Evans I fell in love with is inside you somewhere and I want to get her back. I know you want her back as well. You don't like who you've become, I can see it every time you grimace at your reflection. I'm not asking much Lily. I'm not asking for your love or friendship, I'm not even asking you to like me. All I want is a chance to help you. Please, please, give it to me."

For some inexplicable reason Lily was mad. Maybe it was because everything he'd said was true, but whatever the reason it made her shout, "You want a confession James! Alright, here's one, lets see how you like it! The Dark Lord's after me. Oh, and of course, it's not only me, oh no, it's anyone and everyone I'm close to. Well guess what James, that's not something I'm going to stand for. I'm not going to let anyone get hurt because of me. I plan to make sure that he has no one to kill, but me! And you are messing up my plan!"

James took a step closer. Probably not the brightest idea because she was so mad she felt like snapping him in half. "He's really after you?"

"Oh, no, I was joking," she said sarcastically, "Of course he's after me you dimwit."

James, much to her vexation, was looking like he'd just discovered enlightenment, "So that's why you won't let me help you. You're afraid he'll hurt me."

Lily nodded looking at her feet; the anger had disappeared as swiftly as it had come. Suddenly she was enveloped in a bear hug that lifted her completely off of her feet.

"That's really sweet Lils. That means a lot to me."

"James, I don't want to hurt you. I've already lost so much; please I don't want to lose anymore. I don't want to lose you."

"I'm not going anywhere," He said setting her on her feet.

"Even you can't control death James."

"Lily, what kind of life would we live if we lived in constant fear of death? If you ask me, it wouldn't be much of one." Pulling back, he looked her in the eye, "Death will come to us all Lily. I want to die knowing I lived life to its fullest. I want to know that I savored each day. You know, 'live each day as if it is your last', that kind of thing. Life's an adventure Lils, and I want you on that adventure with me."

Shivering, Lily clung to James, burying her face in his chest. She never wanted to let him go. But still, should she do this? Should she let herself love him? Should she risk his life for their love? Should she set herself up for another heart break? To her surprise she already knew the answer and it wasn't what she'd thought it was. "Yes!" Her heart and mind yelled so loudly he lips felt obliged to voice the sentiment as well.

"Thank you, thank you." James breathed pulling her close to him. Lily wrapped her arms around him snuggling into his warmth. They stood there for what could have been a minute or an hour, it didn't matter. They were together.

Finally James pulled away, "I better get you inside before all I have for company is a Lily Popsicle." Keeping one arm securely around her, he pulled her toward the castle. It was quiet except for the squishing of their shoes, wet with lake water.

Once they reached the main hall Lily looked around, "What time is it?"

"Late."

"Thank you Mr. Obvious."

"You're welcome Ms. Sarcastic."

They both giggled. They always had so much fun making fun of each other. Things were almost back to normal, except for one thing. James was holding her had tightly in his. It was nice.

Hey this is my first HP fic, so reviews would be appreciated.


	2. In which James considers homocide

It's not mine; J.K. Rowling owns everything.

Chapter 2: In Which James Finds a New Best Friend

or

In Which James Considers Homocide

They made it back to the common room without seeing anyone, which was a good thing. Not that they would've been in trouble, but James wasn't in the mood for dishing out detentions. Once in the common room Lily hurried to the fire and began warming her hands. The embers were low, but hot, and cast a warm glow over her. She almost looked like part of the fire. James enveloped her in his arms again. She fit there so perfectly. He could feel her breath flowing; it was so calming. He buried his face in her neck breathing in the soft scents of lily and gardenia. He could stay like this forever. Unfortunately the cosmos had other plans; damn cosmos. Right as he was about to take advantage of the empty common room and ask Lily what had happened that had caused Voldemort to come after her, his former, oh yes, _former_ best friend Sirius Black came bounding down the steps and blinded him with a bright flash. As soon as he'd managed to blink the spots out of his eyes, he saw Sirius was standing at the foot of the stairs holding a camera and grinning like he'd just discovered a gold mine. James was about to go pound Sirius into a bloody pulp when he realized the Lily had collapsed. She weighed so little he hadn't even noticed at first that he'd been supporting her whole weight.

"Lily?!" He cried, worry filling his voice.

Sirius ran over to them, "Bloody shit, that wasn't supposed to happen."

"Is that all you can say! What the hell were you doing anyway? Trying to blind us!"

"No, I was just gathering a little black mail material and of course I figured you guys would want a memento from your first date." While they bickered, James laid Lily out on the couch. Shit, this was bad. He could see that she was breathing, but it felt like his world was disintegrating. He'd let her get hurt after he'd just promised to be there for her. That was going to look brilliant on his credit rating. Should he take her to the hospital wing? No, bad idea; she was drastically underweight and if they kept in her in the hospital wing for that, it would devastate her. He would definitely have to talk with her before he did something like that. Besides, what had caused her to faint anyway? Sirius ran back up the stairs saying he'd get Remus. James sat down on the couch next to Lily and gently held her hand in his. She looked for fragile lying there. A crash behind him let him know Remus and Sirius had arrived.

"Shit," was Remus' only comment.

He might have been about to say more, but at that moment Lily started to move. She seemed to be having a dream. James could see her back arching slightly off the couch as though it hurt her and her eyes were moving rapidly back and forth under her eyelids. He didn't know if her should try and wake her up or not. Then her face twisted into an awful grimace of pain and James knew he couldn't take it anymore.

"Lily," he whispered shaking her gently. "Lily, wake up. Please wake up." His words seemed to be having no effect then she bolted up, her eyes wide with terror, her mouth open in a silent scream. James tried to grab a hold of her, wanting to pull her to him and comfort her. As soon as his hands touched her arms she lashed out at him with her fists. Instinctively he caught her wrists.

"Lily, it's me James."

"J...ja..mes?"

"Yes, it's me Lily. Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you." He gently pulled her into his arms and rocked her as she began to cry. It must have been an awful nightmare to have her shaking so badly with sobs. It felt like her tiny body would just shake itself apart with the force of her tears.

"It'll be alright; everything's going to be fine. I'm here to help." He kept whispering those words over and over again in her ear. He didn't know if they were true, but he certainly hoped so.

Finally the tears stopped, but James didn't let go of her. He wanted to make sure that she would be alright. Not to mention, she felt pretty darn good nestled in his arms like this, except for the fact she was holding him so tightly he was having a little problem breathing.

"James," she sniffled into his shoulder as she loosened her death grip on him slightly.

"Shhh...it's going to be fine. Just take your time." He moved his hands up and ran them through her hair wishing she would let him do it when she wasn't sobbing.

"What happened?" She said her voice muffled in his shirt.

"Sirius was being an ass and scared the shit out of me and made you faint. I was really worried about you. Then you started having a nightmare, so I woke you up."

Lily lifted her head and looked around the now empty common room. "Where's he now?"

"Who knows, but if he were still around here I would be killing him right now," James said gently brushing a finger across her face. "We're going to have to get payback somehow."

"I've got a brilliant idea," Lily said he face twisting into a ghost of her impish grin. "I don't even remember what he did. I just remember the flash..." She broke off, her entire body shuddering at the mere memory.

"That was Sirius and his gods forsaken worthless piece of crap camera, and once I get my hands on that thing it will only exist as tiny, tiny pieces." James looked at Lily. She clearly wasn't paying attention to a single thing he was saying. "Lils, have you ever fainted when you're startled before?"

"Oh, I didn't faint because it startled me, it was more a reflex. My body just figured out that when you're unconscious...umm...well things aren't so bad," she finished not meeting his eyes.

It sounded like she was talking about someone cursing her. James' mind raced and he suddenly remembered all of those times when she'd flinch at his touch and duck at loud sounds. "Has someone been hurting you? Because if someone has I swear that son of a..."

Lily cut him off with her small delicate hand covering his mouth. "While I'd enjoy seeing someone beat up the Dark Lord, I don't want you to be in danger."

"Voldemort! Voldemort attacked you!" Lily nodded hanging her head like she was ashamed. "Oh gods Lils!" He whispered crushing her to him. "Thank the gods you're alright." This was something he'd never really had to deal with before. No one would ever dream of beating up Lily, or even making fun of her at Hogwarts because she was practically stamped on the forehead with 'If you hurt me, the Marauders will beat you into the ground'. And now she was hurt. She was hurt and he hadn't even known. The way Lily said it, Voldemort had hurt her repeatedly. He clung to her even tighter. "I'm so sorry."

"Why should you be James? You wouldn't hurt me, I know that. If anything, James, I'm going to hurt you. I spited Him, bested him even, and he's going to get back at me in any way possible. He could strike at anyone I care for...and I don't want that to be you James."

"I don't care about that Lily. What I care about is you." He said forcefully his voice filled with a tone that brooked no contradiction. Even Lily knew not to protest. Their conversation had tired her; he could see it in her drooping eyelids. She looked like she hadn't slept in months. "Here's what we're going to do. You're going to sleep in tomorrow and then I'm going to make you breakfast. And you're going to have to eat every single bite or you'll risk insulting me. Ok?"

"Mmm..." Lily was practically asleep in his arms, she looked so adorable.

He sat there a little while longer stroking her hair. "Come on Lils, bed time." He shook her a little; she didn't move. Damn, she was asleep and there was no way in the world he could wake her up. He also couldn't get her up to her bed in the girl's dormitory without setting off the alarms. Great, guess he'd be sleeping on the floor tonight. Cradling her in his arms he carried her up the staircase into his dormitory. Remus and Sirius, who were sitting on the floor talking, looked up.

"James, buddy, I'm sooo sorry. I completely..." Sirius shut up as Remus rammed him with his elbow.

"Shhh...She's asleep," Remus whispered.

Remus could be his new best friend, James decided. A, he had a brain, B, he had eyes, and C, he certainly didn't own a camera. James gently lay Lily on his bed and pulled the covers over her. Absentmindedly he brushed the hair out of her face. Realizing what he was doing, he pulled back and firmly closed the hangings around the bed. Turning, he went and sat on the floor with his friend, and former friend.

"What are we discussing?" He asked.

"Appropriate atonement punishment." Remus told him.

"But I didn't do anything," Sirius protested, "Ok, it might have been a little something, Ok, so she fainted, but big deal right?"

James just glared, Remus answered, "Wrong, so you had better start coming up with ways to make it up to Lily. After all she's your best friend's new girlfriend, so you're going to want to get along with her."

"Well put," James said giving a silent round of applause.

"Ok, ok, I'll come up with something."

"Great," James said, "Now you can start making it up to me. First you can let me have half of your bed."

"WHAT!"

"SHHHH"

"What?"

"Well, in case you haven't noticed my bed's occupied."

"So, climb in there with her."

Counting to ten was a good fight deterrent. By the time James got to 10 Sirius was practically begging to give James half of his bed. Remus told him as he brushed his teeth that his face had look positively scary.

As he climbed into Sirius' bed James knew it was going to be a long night. He wasn't even asleep yet and Sirius already had all of the covers. Lying on his stomach, James thought over the day; it all seemed so surreal. Christmas break started Sunday, which meant he had one more day with Lily until they went home for the holidays. He would hate being away from her, but he would make good use of the time. His dad was the Head Auror at the Ministry of Magic and would definitely know of a few defenses that could be set up against Voldemort. And James would make sure Lily had them all. When he finally drifted to sleep he was smiling. Lily Evans was his girlfriend and nothing was going to happen to her.

Hey Chapter #2 is up. I've got lots more coming if anyone's interested. I didn't think so, but I'm interested and that's what counts.

Thanks Daystar, my one reviewer. I guess I'll just have to keep posting for you since you complain and whine if I don't.


	3. In which Lily discovers aphrodisiac soap

It's not mine; J.K. Rowling is a genius.

Chapter 3: In Which Lily Starts her Morning

Or

In Which Lily Discovers Aphrodisiac Soap

Lily woke up with a start. It was late, she could tell from the light seeping through her bed hangings. She closed her eyes and burrowed deeper under her covers. It was a Saturday, so she didn't have to get up. "Mmm..." her sheets smelled really good. Whatever soap the house elves were using must have been stolen right out of James' shower; it smelled just like him. She wondered how they managed to get such an exact reproduction. She should find out. The shirt that she'd kind of stolen from him was beginning to lose its smell and it wasn't half as nice to sleep in if it didn't smell like him. Besides, James was bound to notice if his shirts kept disappearing, like they had been for the past 2 years. But they smelled so darn good, and she really couldn't help herself. Sleeping was just so much easier with a comforting smell enveloping you. Speaking, or thinking really, of clothes what in the world was she wearing, it felt like her robe? Lily pried open her eyes and looked down, it was her robe. Why in the world was she wearing her robe? Last night came flooding back to her in a stunning torrent of information. She couldn't help grinning. James was so wonderful; he actually thought she was worth risking his life over. She couldn't agree of course, but he was just so perfect. Wait! How had she gotten back to her dorm last night? All she remembered was being barely awake in James' arms. Oh shit...this was James' bed! Ok, no hyperventilating. Although, it did smell pretty damn good. Alright, so she was in James' bed, no big deal. It's not like he was in here with her. James was far too much of a gentleman to do that. Deep breaths, bad idea now she was really taking in the smell. James didn't sleep naked, did he? Oh gods, ok think good thoughts. She was calm. Now all she had to do was open the hangings. Ok, on the count of 3, 1...2...

"Tell me where she is Sirius. I know you marauders did something to her!" Ally's voice boomed through the room.

"Now why would we do something like that?" Sirius asked his voice belying every word he said.

"Stop blocking the doorway Sirius; don't make me hex you. Lily's my best friend and I'm going to find her with or without your help."

There was a scuffling sound and then Sirius said, "Look, nothing out of the ordinary, RIGHT James?"

"Whaa?"

"Oh look, I accidentally woke you up. So James dear, Ally here is looking for Lilykins. Have you seen her?"

"Isn't she, OW... what was that...ohhhh right...ummm...no, haven't seen her."

"God you guys are such horrible liars. Just out of curiosity, James, why in the world are you sleeping in Sirius' bed?"

"No reason, no reason at all."

"Yeah right."

"Hey don't open that...heh heh... you know what go right ahead." Sirius' voice came from right at the edge of the bed.

"Boys, you all talk so tough until a girl pulls out her wand and it turns out to be bigger than yours."

"Ouch Sirius, you got told."

Great, Lily thought, it didn't take a genius to guess Ally was about to pull back the hangings and find Lily sitting on James' bed grinning like an idiot. Oh well, she thought, throwing herself back on the bed and pulling the covers over her face. Let her do it. She heard the hangings being yanked back and just as she prepared for the covers to be pulled off her, WHACK! Something rather hard hit her. "Ow, hey, stop that. I'm up!" She cried sitting up.

Ally literally jumped 2 feet in the air like she had seen someone come back from the dead. In the process of jumping, she let the broom that she'd whacked Lily with drop. "Shit Lils, you nearly gave me a heart attack. I thought you were Peter or something." Ally let out a very theatrical sigh. "But what in the world are you doing in Potter's bed?"

"I feel asleep?" Lily tried. It kind of sounded plausible.

"In Potter's bed?"

Lily looked past Ally at James who looked adorable in his boxers. He winked at her and said to Ally, "Oh no, Ally, she fell asleep in my arms after a romantic talk by the lake and of course being the gentleman that I am, I hadn't the heart to wake her so I gave up my bed for her to sleep in."

"You are so full of shit Potter. Come on Lily, I'll get you back to the right bed."

"But James said he'd make me breakfast."

"That's right I did. How do you like omelets?"

"Sound great," Lily said returning his smile.

"Alright, get dressed and then I'll meet you in the common room."

"Ok," Lily said, hopped off the bed, smiled at the dumbstruck Ally, shook hands with a gleeful Sirius, and bounded out of the room. Once in her own dorm she collapsed on her bed. Maybe she could steal James' sheets. That would be really nice.

Ally came in right as Lily was putting up her hair, "So are you and James a couple now?"

"Yeah I guess so, it doesn't really matter though, does it?"

"Leave it down," Ally said gesturing at Lily's hair.

"It's a mess."

"Yeah, but James loves it when you wear it down. I mean consider the facts. He's only stolen, what, 253 hair ties from you in the past 7 years trying to convince you to not to put your hair up."

"258," Lily corrected grinning. She let her hair fall down her back. "I'm bringing a hair tie with me just in case though." She and Ally both laughed a little.

Lily had started toward the doorway when Ally said, "Are you really wearing that?"

Lily looked down at her baggy t-shirt and jeans, "Yeah, why is something wrong with it."

"Well I'm not trying to say I don't like your style Lily, but don't you want to dress up a little. You know, let James know he's special?"

"He knows. Besides I don't really own anything dressy."

"Ahh...but I do. And I will even let you borrow some things in order to impress the man of your dreams."

"How do you know he's the man of my dreams?"

Ally shot her a glance from where she was bent over her trunk, "Well the fact you sleep in a shirt you stole from him is always a good indication."

Lily blushed she hadn't even realized Ally knew about that. As she watched Ally dig through her trunk Lily was filled with an uncontrollable urge to apologize. She wasn't sure what for, maybe everything. For some reason Lily wasn't afraid anymore. Life didn't seem so hopeless. "I'm sorry I've been so awful lately."

Ally straightened up and said, "It doesn't matter Lily. That's what best friends are for, to stick with you through the tough times and of course to go searching for you if you're kidnapped by the biggest asses at Hogwarts."

"I really did fall asleep in his arms." Lily said looking at anything, but Ally.

"I've actually figured that out by now. I'm just glad you've found someone to trust. Here you go try these on," Ally said throwing some clothes at her. Lily sighed and shifted uncomfortably looking at Ally. "I'm turning around _and_ closing my eyes."

Lily pulled her shirt over her head. After having lived for so long in a dormitory she should have been used to changing in front her best friend, but that had changed this summer. Not that it would bother her; it just might bother Ally. After putting on the clothes Lily felt extremely self-conscious. They hugged her body and showed off curves she preferred to keep hidden.

"Ok, you can turn around now." Lily said, tugging the skirt a little.

"Damn, James isn't going to be able to sleep tonight," Ally said examining her handy work, "Tell him to write me a thank you note."

Lily looked in the mirror taking in the knee length jean skirt and lacy black tank top. Why did Ally even buy these clothes? Probably so she could force Lily to wear them.

"Stop gawking and go already," Ally said, "And when you get back you can give me all the juicy details about your 'date'."

"It's not a..." Lily stopped at Ally's look. Ok, so maybe it was a bit of a date. Sticking her tongue out at Ally, she walked out the door. It hit her then that she was now putting two people that she cared very deeply about in danger. And Ally didn't even know about it. Lily had realized something though. She couldn't make the choice for her friend. Ally had to choose for herself if she wanted to remain friends with Lily or get the hell away from her. Life was really so much simpler if you realized that. Starting down the stairs Lily fidgeted some more with her outfit. She hated wearing tight clothes. If you got right down to it the whole reason she was alive today was that she'd been wearing tight clothes. How sick is that? If she'd been dressed as she usually did, she would be dead; she would be spared all the pain of living. She also wouldn't have James. One smile from him made the whole damn thing worth it. Smiling at the thought of James in his boxers, Lily jumped the last 3 steps into the common room. She loved doing that, it was the closest she ever came to flying (she was abysmal with a broom stick).

Remus glanced up at her from his chair by the fire, "How'd you sleep last night?"

"Wonderfully," she said her grin growing even wider.

"James didn't. Sirius stole all of the covers. Poor James was shivering when I got up."  
Lily put on a seductive pouting look, "He could have climbed in with me." The look on Remus' face was priceless! "Geez Remus, I'm just kidding. Besides I trust James not to pull any tricks like that, now Sirius on the other hand..."

Remus laughed with her then said, "You look nice today, any special occasion?"

"Ally told me I wasn't allowed to go to breakfast with James without decent clothes on."

Remus shot a look at her clothes, "What did you have on before that was so indecent?"

"A baggy shirt and jeans."

"Ohh... Ally certainly wouldn't approve of that. Well, I must say she did a smashing job, as you look lovely. James isn't going to be able to take his eyes off you."

Lily actually blushed. She knew she didn't look all that great, she'd lost far too much weight this summer, but it was nice to know her friends still thought she was pretty.

"You're right Remus, I'm already enchanted. I don't know how I'm going to make you an omelet if I can't bring myself to look away from your beauty."

Lily spun around to see James staring at her grinning in approval. "Ally said you should write her a thank you note since she picked out the outfit."

"How does she feel about roses?" He said, putting his hands on her waist and pulling her into his arms.

"She'd probably like chocolate better."

"What about you?"

"I like roses."

"I like lilies," he said kissing her cheek.

She blushed, enjoying the feel of his arms around her. Last night she hadn't been in the best state to appreciate it. I mean, she'd been so worked up she hadn't even notice how good he smelled. Darn, she wanted to bury her nose in his shirt so badly. Instead she rounded up the last of her fleeing will power and pulled back a little, "Let's go."

James offered her his arm and led her like a lady out of the portrait hole and down to the kitchen.

"So how do you expect to convince the house elves to let you cook your own omelet?"

"I've got a few connections; I am a marauder after all." He tickled the pear and handed her into the kitchens like he was helping her descend from a carriage.

As soon as she entered Lily was met by Mardi, a house elf she knew from when she used to eat in the kitchens. "Mistress Lily, it's been so long. Look at you. Who's been feeding you? To thin, to thin," she clucked as she pinched a little at Lily's side, "Don't you worry about a thing, Mardi will fix you some food in no time."

"Oh Mardi, stop fussing, I'm fine," Lily said with a smile.

"She's right Mardi, no need to worry yourself. I'll fatten her up for you." James said from behind her. He imitated Mardi and pinched her side a little, then he let his hand settle there pulling her to his side.

"Master James! Oh, you and Mistress Lily here together. How exciting!"

"Well, Lily heard about my famous omelets and wanted to try one."

"Of course, of course, this way," Mardi said bowing them toward the back of the kitchen, "You make the omelets; Mardi will see to everything else."

"Thanks, Mardi."

"So that's how you do it," Lily said leaning on the counter while watching James gather the ingredients, "You let them cook nearly everything so they're happy and you just do the omelets."

"I'll have you know that even the omelets thing took some convincing. What finally brought them around was that my omelets are even better than their omelets. You just can't compete with that." He shrugged lightly and turned his attention to his work.

The kitchen smelled fantastic, not as good as James, but she was starving. Feeling useless she tried to help the house elves set up a little table for her and James, but they kept shooing her away.

"Done," James said and set a mouth-watering omelet on the table. Pulling out her chair for her, James got her settled before heading to his spot. He grinned, "Dig in."

She did. She ate so much. She was finally hungry, after so many months without an appetite, she was ravenous. She didn't even feel embarrassed when James laughed at her for getting thirds or made jokes with Mardi about his success at 'fattening her up.' When she finally finished she and James tried to help clean-up, but they were shoved out by the house elves.

Back in the hall, James wrapped an arm around her waist, "So you're going to eat while I'm gone, right?"

"If I'm hungry," Lily replied.

"Stop being so evasive," James said pressing her to the wall as if physically keeping her from avoiding him would affect her ignoring his words as well. "You need to eat Lily. You're so light; I'm worried about you."

"James, I just ate a whole buffet!"

"You need to start eating normally. You aren't fat, you know. You don't think you're fat, do you?"

"No, I don't James. It's just that I'm usually not hungry."

"Look Lils," he said touching the side of her face with his warm hand, "I just want you to be healthy."

"Ok, ok, I'll eat while you're gone."

"Promise?"

"Yes," she whispered looking up at him, his face only inches from hers.

"Can I kiss you?"

"I don't know, _can_ you?" Lily whispered playfully.

He rolled his eyes, "May I?"

"Yes," she breathed as his lips came down to meet hers. Lily was drowning in him and it was so much sweeter than the water that had tempted her just yesterday. She melted into him.

"Well, well, well," a voice said breaking through the bliss that had settled over her.

James pulled away from her looking slightly dazed with a huge smile on his face.

"If it isn't the head boy and girl making out in the hall."

James turned, "You got a problem with that Snivellus?"

"Going to hex me in front of your girl Potter?"

Lily tried to bring her mind under control. This could turn into a dangerous situation. "No, he's not," Lily said firmly laying a hand on James' arm. She could feel his muscles tense under his skin, "We were just leaving."

She started pulling James down the hall with her, and then Severus sneered, "Letting a mudblood push you around, Potter? That's low even for you."

James broke free of Lily's grip and shoved Severus against the wall, placing his wand against his throat, "Apologize for that Snivellus!"

"James, I don't want his apologies unless he means them."

"You expect me to let him call you t...th...that?!?!" James practically cried, his voice choking with anger.

"James, he's not worth your time." Lily pleaded at him with her eyes. It was a game. James didn't understand that this whole dirty thing was just a stupid game. But you had to play this game because if you lost it, you lost your life. James looked at her piercingly before letting Severus fall to the floor.

"Don't let me hear you talking like that again," James snarled and, keeping his wand out, took Lily's hand and pulled her down the hall. Once in the Great Hall he turned to her, "Why did you make me stop? He insulted you! I should have hexed him into oblivion!"

Lily looked him in the eye; she needed him to understand this, "James, I've always believed in being kind to others. I've not made it a secret that I don't like the way that you treat Severus. I know that you can't understand this, but I...well let's just say I had the opportunity to learn that a little kindness in the present, a little mercy, can help you when you need it most." Lily thought back to this summer; how broken she'd been, how close to death. Then a noble man had given her a chance to live. In life, the man who'd saved her was scum, but in that moment Severus Snape had given her everything and he'd done it to repay her for the years of unwelcomed kindness she'd given him.

James nodded, "I'm not going to pretend to understand, but for you I can learn to overlook a few things, even Snivellus."

Lily giggled, "I would love to know who came up with that name."

"I'd put my money on Sirius. That's just the sort of thing he'd do in his spare time."

She sighed, "James, I've got to go work on my Transfiguration essay."

"But it's not due until the end of break!"

"I know, but I hate having to worry about it. Besides, Transfiguration is my worst subject."

"And my best. Want some help?"

"No, you should go have fun with your friends."

"Alright, but I will see you at dinner."

"What about lunch?"

"I believe we just had breakfast for lunch."

"Really, what time is it?"

"About 1:00 I'd say."

"Wow, we really slept late."

"Yeah."

Lily shared a smile with James and then instinctively pecked him on the lips, "Ok, I'll see you at dinner. Oh, and thanks for the omelet; it was amazing."

As she turned to go James grabbed her arm and pulled her into his arms. "Is that all I get for a good-bye kiss?" He said, pouting.

"Yes, it is," Lily said, "Unless you can convince me otherwise." Oh gods, where had that come from? She was flirting, _FLIRTING_ with James Potter. Where had she even learned how to flirt? Shit. Ally was probably playing taped lessons on flirting while Lily slept. That would so be something Ally would do. Still it, probably wasn't a bad thing, she couldn't miss James' smile of delight at her challenge.

"Please," he whispered.

"Nope."

"Pretty please?"

"Not working," she said trying to keep her mind from spinning as he inched closer to her.

He kissed her cheek, then her forehead, "Pretty please with a lily on top?"

All Lily could do was nod. He was so darn gorgeous when he begged. Not to mention his smell was definitely floating over which was enough to make her lightheaded at the best of moments. He bent his head and kissed her. She didn't even care that they were in the middle of the Great Hall. She was such a goner. Lily pulled back and whispered, "I'll see you at dinner." Then, she pulled out of his arms and darted up the stairs, afraid that if she stopped she would end up back in his arms. She decided to bypass the library. What she needed was a good dose of sensible girl talk from Ally. Maybe she could convince her that stealing James' soap was not the answer to her problems.

Thank you to my (counted them myself) 3 reviewers. I think you guys are really awesome and now that there are 3 of you I'll feel more obligated than ever to post new stuff. Yay for you!

Daystar – this counts for a minimum of 20 niffer happy minutes cause this is seriously a long chapter

Oh and hey maybe I'll just throw in my other reviewer's names; I mean there are just _soo_ many of them...

Luciblue – everyone says I make James look like a sap, but I think he's sweet too

Hpfreak – thanks for reviewing, you rock!


	4. In which Lily meets James' shower

It's not mine; it's all J.K. Rowling's.

Chapter 4: In Which James Runs into a Multitude of Objects

Or

In Which Lily Meets James' Shower

James watched Lily run up the stairs until he could no longer see her shining red hair swinging behind her; then he sagged against the wall. The urge to go running after her and kiss her senseless was actually lessening. This was definitely a good thing. Gods she was so amazing and she'd flirted with him and let him kiss her, twice! His mind was so far away he barely registered it when Remus emerged from a corridor to his right and started toward him.

"Still in the Lily Zone?" Remus asked politely.

"Yeah," James said trying to get the feel of her lips out of his head.

"So I take it breakfast went well." Remus said pulling James away from the wall and toward the stairs.

"She let me kiss her."

"Sounds brilliant."

"How can she be so perfect?"

"Ummm...good genes?"

"Yeah the jeans are great, but I don't think that's it. But, that jean skirt today, oh boy that was nice. I have to admit, I thought the tank top was a little bit better. Although I have grown rather fond of those baggy t-shirts of hers. It's so sexy the way they fall up when she's outside practicing her gymnav...no... oh darn... what are they called?"

"Gymnastics. Gods, you are a complete goner. I didn't even mean that type of jeans."

"Oh, oops."

"Yeah, come on, walk a bit faster here, Sirius wants a chat." Remus pulled James through another doorway and led him up to the little used tower the Marauders occasionally used as a hideout.

"James! Finally, it took you long enough," Sirius said hopping off the ledge he'd been sitting on.

"He's still in Lily Land, Sirius. It might be a while before he gets back. Apparently she kissed him."

"Is it possible to taste like strawberries?" James asked. No one seemed inclined to answer him though.

"James, I just want you to pull your brain together long enough to hear me out. Ok?" Sirius said very slowly.

"Alright, I'm working on it," James said firmly pushing his thoughts of Lily's hair to the back of his mind. It wasn't really working though because as soon as he got rid of one thought another would pop up. Like that sneaking suspicion he had that her freckles might cover her entire body. Gods he wanted to...SHIT...he was supposed to be putting those thoughts away. This was harder than you'd think. Finally he managed to focus on Sirius.

"Well, you see, I've come up with a way to make up for the flash incident. So, you know how your parents said you could have one friend over for Christmas and then invite everyone for New Years?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, I asked Remus and I'm going over to his house now for Christmas, meaning you have a free invitation. I was thinking that you could ask Lily."

"But she's going home for Christmas."

"I know, but you can at least ask her. If she says no I'll find another way to make it up to you."

"Sirius, she's going home. Do you really think she'd rather come home with me that go see her family?"

"It's fine if you don't want my wonderful, amazing, heartfelt gift. Don't use it. But if you change your mind it's still there. It's a full moon the day after Christmas, so I'm still going with Moony."

James looked at Remus who shrugged, "I'll think about it."  
There were several moments of silence before Remus said, "Let's go back to the dorm, we need to get our stuff together so I don't end up taking home Sirius' socks again."

"No kidding. I think Sirius is taking my shirts, too."

"I do not have your shirts James, and Remus it's not my fault your socks fit better than mine."

The trio laughed and headed out.

_They didn't even know that the fireplace that provided warmth to the tower occasionally carried sound down to the dungeons. Since they didn't know that, it's pretty obvious they didn't know that a man was thudding his head against the wall in the dungeons saying, "That darn worthless mudblood. How do I get myself into these things?"_

**At the same time...**

"Why are we doing this again?" Lily asked.

"Because you're intoxicated by James' soap, so if we steal it not only will you have some nice soap you'll also be able to tell if you're only attracted to him because of his smell."

"But he smells so good; I don't want him to stop."

"But you can't know if your feelings are really smell induced or otherwise."

"You realize that you were supposed to talk me out of stealing his soap."

"Yeah, that's what a friend would be for. On the other hand, a best friend is the one who'll go with you to help steal the soap."

"Oh gods, I can't believe we're doing this, "Lily moaned.

Ally looked around and dragged Lily up the staircase to the boy's dorm. As they reached James' door they peeped in.

"The coast is clear," Ally said walking in.

Lily followed, but kept shooting furtive glances around. After all, Sirius could never be trusted not to show up with a camera at the wrong moment.

"Oh boy, we're going to see their bathroom!" Ally giggled.

"If it's as much a mess as their room is, I'm disgusted already."

"Actually it's pretty clean Lils. Come on, I swear nothing will bite you. Besides I don't know which one's James'.

Lily reluctantly followed Ally into the bathroom. It wasn't that bad actually. Taking deep breaths Lily figured so far so good. This was going to work out fine.

Ally picked up a bottle of cologne from the shelf by the sink, "You know Lils it might be his cologne that has you so enchanted."

"I don't think he wears cologne, besides the scent smells pretty soapy to me."

"Well you never know until you try it," Ally said and sprayed some into the air.

Lily immediately started coughing. Shit that stuff was strong. Who in their right mind would buy that much less wear it? Lily stumbled over and opened the small window, sticking her head out taking in deep breaths of fresh air.

"Hey, give me some air. I'm dying in here," Ally said shoving her.

"Bet that's Sirius'," Lily said when they'd finally managed to fan enough of it out the window to make the air breathable again.

"No kidding," Ally said and threw it out the window.

It took Lily a moment to register that Ally had just _THROWN_ someone's bottle of cologne out an open window which opened onto who knows what. "Oh my gods! What did you just do?!?!"

"What? I didn't want him to ever wear that stuff again."

Lily stuck her head out of the window and looked down. Three 1st years were clustered around the shattered bottle gesturing wildly. They probably thought someone was trying to kill them or send them a heavenly signal or something. Oh well. "No more throwing things out windows," Lily said firmly as she pulled her head back in.

"Ok, ok. I was just doing the Hogwarts community a huge favor."

"You know Ally, if you told Sirius to get rid of the cologne he would. I mean he's only completely in love with you."

"He's not."

"Is too."

"Is not."

"Yeah, then how do you explain the fact that he hasn't gone out with anyone since the school year started. Usually he's gone through at least 5 girls by now. Sara Sawyer told me that he was cleaning up his act to impress a girl. Now, the fact remains that nearly every girl in Hogwarts would beg to go out with him, leaving very few girls he needs to impress. In fact let me think, who's the only girl who has ever turned him down? Hmmm..."

"Me."

"Yeah, you. Wonder what that means?" Lily said sarcastically taking a few cautious sniffs of the other bottles of cologne while she talked. Shaking her head she said, "Well it's not these; it must be the soap."

"You really think he likes me?" Ally asked drawing Lily's full attention.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well I just, I kind of sort of might like him," Ally said in a rush.

Lily grinned, "I was beginning to suspect that."

"Yeah anyways, let try the soap," Ally pulled back the shower curtain and stepped into the small shower. There were four different soap racks, which had four different soaps resting on them, and the soaps were all four different colors. "Wow," Ally giggled, "Talk about obsessive."

"No kidding," Lily said, "I just use your soap."

"I seriously bet that's Sirius'."

Lily groaned at the pun.

"What? It looks like his kind of thing. I bet it smells horrendous." Ally picked it up and gave it a sniff, "Not bad actually. It must be Remus'." They both laughed. Ally grabbed the ivory soap, "This looks like something you'd like the smell off."

"Really, why is that?" Lily asked taking it from her.

"Oh you know," Ally said dramatically leaning on the side of the shower, "Simple yet alluring, pure yet dirty..."

"Merlin, you're so silly. You're getting high off Sirius' cologne aren't you?"

"You bet it just smells so darn good." She laughed pretending to faint.

Lily took a cautious sniff of the soap in her hand and nearly fainted herself. This was it, the smell that had her acting so crazy. And it was all hers now; she resisted the urge to laugh evilly. "This is it," Lily said, "Let's go."

"Let me smell it," Ally said.

Lily had stretched out her hand, offering the soap to Ally, when they heard was a loud crash from the other room. Both girls froze.

"Damn."

"Do you know how long that table has sat in that exact spot James?"

"Sirius, stop bugging James; you were in charge of keeping him from running into things, so technically it's your fault. You know he's completely out of it."

"I am not completely out of it."

"He's right Remus, Lily Land has to be in 'it' _somewhere_."

Lily exchanged a glance with Ally. Then Ally grabbed Lily, pulled her into the shower, and closed the curtain. Now the smart and polite thing to do would be to announce their presence, but obviously this whole situation was going to be horribly embarrassing even if you went about it politely, so why bother? Listening in to conversations can also provide a wealth of blackmail material, and that's always useful. Ally grinned at Lily and mouthed, "Lily Land?" Lily shrugged. She hadn't told Ally yet about the flirting and the kissing. She'd been too hung up on the soap and telling Ally about the small difficulty that the Dark Lord was after her. Strangely enough Ally had thought the soap was the more pressing of the two problems.

"I can't believe she let you kiss her. Now you're going to be completely useless all of break."

Ally's eyes widened and Lily turned bright red. Ally shoved her and whispered, "Way to go Lily!" This caused Lily to turn even redder.

"Hey Remus, have you seen my toothbrush?"

"Sirius, why would I have your toothbrush?"

"I don't know; that's a good question."  
"No kidding. I'd check in the bathroom though. That is generally where you leave it."  
"Right. Brilliant idea, as usual."

Lily held her breath as Sirius walked into the bathroom. She could see his legs from under the shower curtain. He was humming under his breath something that sounded suspiciously like the Beatles. She had to clamp her hand over her mouth to keep from bursting out in laughter.

"James, are you going to pack?"

"I am packing."

"Prongs, if lying on your bed staring dreamily at the ceiling is packing, then my name's Peter," Sirius called from the bathroom where Lily could hear him rummaging around.

There were a few moments of silence, "Ok, I might have been."

"Just out of curiosity, which part of Lily were you pondering?" Remus asked.

"Yes, do tell," Sirius said finally leaving the bathroom, "We're all so interested in her 3rd eyelash, which is particularly long when compared to her 7th eyelash, although lucky 13 does put up a good fight and...ooff..." There was the sound of a pillow knocking someone in the head.

"Stop making fun of him Sirius; you'd be acting exactly the same way if Ally so much as smiled at you."

Now it was Ally's turn to go red. Lily mouthed, "I told you so," with a grin.

"Good point, Remus," James said, "Besides Sirius, I wasn't thinking about her eyelashes, although she does have particularly nice ones. I was thinking about that lock of hair she has that always falls out from behind her ear and hangs there in front of her face. I swear that thing should be illegal. It's nearly impossible to stand there and not brush it out of her face, and once you've touched her hair, how can you stop? You just want to run you fingers through it and..."

James was cut off by Remus, "Alright, sorry I asked."

Lily grabbed the lock of hair in front of her face and stared at it. This was harder than you'd think since it involved going kind of cross-eyed. It didn't look tantalizing to her. Then again James probably didn't consider his soap to be an aphrodisiac. Ally was imitating Lily pretending to examine a lock of her hair and ponder it. How much longer were these boys going to pack for?

"Hey James, why don't you get up off your lazy butt and get my shampoo from the bathroom."

Lily and Ally exchanged looks of horror. Lily looked down to where the shampoo bottles were clustered on the ledge beside her. Unlike the soap, these were clearly labeled. She could see the one labeled, "Black." She picked it up, feeling betrayed. How could this bottle of shampoo do this to her? She was such a nice person and she never was overly abusive to her shampoo bottles.

James' voice sounded in the bathroom, "I can't believe I'm getting you shampoo for you. Ugh. Where is the blasted thing?"

Lily couldn't rationalize what she did next except to say he would have found them anyways, so why not make it on her own terms. She stuck her hand with the shampoo bottle in it out of the curtain and said, "Here you go."

Ally had fallen to the bottom of the shower and was holding her mouth with both hands to keep her laughter in.

"Thanks," James said and had his fingers on hers when he screamed, "Bloody Hell!" and whipped back the curtain causing Lily to lose her balance and topple right into his arms which drove him back into the sink.

Ally was no longer trying to control her laughter and was literally rolling on the shower floor. Remus and Sirius ran in. Both of them stood dumbfounded in the doorway.

"What in the world are you doing?" James sputtered out as Lily tried to pull away from him amid her hysterical laughter. Finally James managed to get them both upright without Lily's help.

Trying to compose herself Lily managed to get out a few words, "Well...your soap...Ally..." before she just gave up.

Sirius and Remus were both laughing now and Sirius was helping Ally out of the bathtub. They seemed to be getting a kick out of the hand contact that required. Finally, once Lily and Ally had managed to bring their laughter down to occasional giggles, Lily tried to explain again.

"It's your soap," she started pulling the bar from her pocket and waving it in front of him, "It smells so damn good."

James was now looking at her like she was crazy and Ally had dissolved into laughter leaning heavily on Sirius who didn't seem to mind at all.

"What she's trying to say," Ally clarified, "is that your soap makes her go crazy, so we decided to steal it. That way she could get her daily dose of James smell over break."

Lily turned bright red. Leave it to Ally to make her slight, ok major, obsession with James' smell into a major embarrassment.

Of course, if Ally thought Lily was going to let her get away with something like that then she should have thought again, "Yeah, well at least I'm not in denial over my desperate need to make out with Sirius Black." Harsh, yes; good revenge, definitely.

Ally stared at her open mouthed in shock.

Then Sirius said, "Yeah, well at least none of you are in denial about your major desire to make out with Ally McClintock."

Ally's face immediately became one of happy surprise as she turned toward Sirius. Then the two of them got right out in the open with their previously secret desires.

"Get a room," Remus said inching away from them. They didn't appear to be paying him any attention.

Lily turned back to James.

"You like my soap?" He said beginning to smile.

"You smell so good I can hardly think around you," she confessed.

"Is that a good thing?"

"Yes," she whispered right as his lips brushed hers. She expected him to pull her closer as he had last time, but to her surprise he pulled back and settled his forehead on hers.

"If you wanted my soap you could just have asked me."

"Well, it's kind of embarrassing you know to...umm...yeah."

James grinned, "I find it charming. I'm even going to ask my mother what type of soap it is, so I can buy you more of it."

"That would be nice," Lily mumbled burying her nose in his shirt. Then feeling wicked she mumbled, "Sorry, but I really can't give you that lock of my hair."

James blushed clearly realizing that she'd heard his conversation with his friends, "Maybe you could give me a lock of hair with you attached to it."

Lily stuck out her tongue at his suggestive eyebrow raise and spun around. Ally and Sirius had just come up for air, so she took the opportunity to suggest that everyone move into some place roomier.

"And warmer," said Remus, "Who left the window open?"

Lily and Ally both started laughing.

"You know that really horrendous cologne of yours, Sirius?" Lily said.

"I don't have any horrendous cologne," he said paying more attention to the hand that was tangling Ally's hair than Lily's words.

"That's right," Ally said, "You don't anymore, not since I threw it out the window." All of the boys looked at her incredulous. She grinned, and then pulled Sirius out of the room. "I'll bring him back when I'm done with him," She called and then they were gone.

Remus looking decidedly uncomfortable said, "I better umm...go find my...banana, I probably left it on the other side of the castle, so...yeah," and he ran out leaving Lily and James alone.

Lily pulled out of James' arms and walked back into the dormitory. It was even messier now that they'd begun to pack. Lily flopped down on James' bed and took a huge breath, "Mmm..." She felt the bed sink down next to her as James sat on the bed.

"You are so crazy," he mumbled, his mouth close to her ear.

Lily grinned, "I have a confession to make."

"What is it?" He said, running a hand down her back.

"I've been stealing your shirts and sleeping in them since 5th year."

James burst out laughing, "So that's where they've been going. I thought that Sirius had been stealing them." He leaned down and kissed her cheek, "You're welcome to any of my shirts that you want."

"You're so sweet," she said sleepily. His smell was practically lulling her to sleep. Odd, since earlier it had had her begging James for kisses. Well not begging, but still. Where was her willpower? Elsewhere, her mind answered. And isn't that a darn good place for it?

"Take a nap Lils, I've got to pack. I'll wake you up for dinner."

Lily needed no further urging. She was asleep within seconds.

-------

Hey thanks for reading! If you feel like reviewing I wish you would. If you don't that's ok. I kind of like to assume that more people are reading this than are reviewing it, so you can just fuel that daydream.

Daystar - ching I've now cashed in 20 niffer happy minutes

Jen – aphrodisiac soap is awesome. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Luciblue – I do try to comment on most people's reviews. I'm glad someone appreciates it. ï I like that too. I just don't think it's plausible for her to fall in love with him in one year.

Siriusforeva – Thanks. Lily is awesome.


	5. In which James plays footsy

None of this is mine; it's all J.K. Rowling's.

Chapter 5: In which James Begins to Regret Ignoring his Relatives Advice on Women

Or

In which James Plays Footsy

James stared at Lily's already sleeping form and wondered at his remarkable luck to have a girlfriend like her. Dragging himself away from her, he began packing. It was odd that he could think clearly now with her here, but the moment she left he became a complete basket case. He grinned, thinking about how his relatives would react to the complete loss of his ability to focus. Damn, he'd probably have to tell them the truth or else they'd all be nosey and worried.

He could picture it now, Aunt Lauren would say something to him and he wouldn't by paying attention, so he'd ask her what she'd said and then she would exchange the 'look' with Uncle Robert that said, 'poor boy, he's completely out of it over this girl'. Then the 'look' would be passed to his Uncle Matt and continue on until it went through all 12 of his aunts and uncles and his parents. All the while James would be forced to sit there embarrassed out of him mind.

Now that he thought about it, maybe worried and nosey was the better option. In fact it definitely was. He would, of course, tell his mom though. She wouldn't out him to the rest of the family. She probably wouldn't even tell his dad until James went back to Hogwarts. Everyone knew his dad couldn't keep a happy secret if it killed him. Only one problem with this plan; he'd have to come up with a guise of sorts to ask his father about protection against Voldemort. He could tell him he was writing a paper on it for Defense against the Dark Arts. That was pure brilliance. James was startled out of his reverie by an owl tapping on the window. Opening the window he let the unfamiliar owl in. He took the letter from its leg and found it was addressed to him in an unfamiliar hand. Odd. When he looked up the owl had flown back out. He shut the window then turned back the letter. He broke the blank seal curiosity outweighing caution. The letter was short and unsigned:

Lily Evans is staying at Hogwarts for Christmas

And would gladly accept any offer to spend the

Holiday's elsewhere.

What in the world did that mean? Lily always went home for the Holiday's. Why would that be any different this year? And who would know that James had been considering inviting her to his house, but didn't want to pull her away from her family? Because, if she really were staying at Hogwarts it wouldn't be any trouble at all for her to come home with him. It would be amazing; he could introduce her to his parents, show her the house, and maybe if he was lucky he could push her into a snow bank. He'd always imagined that she would be adorable covered in snow. But who in the world would have sent him this mysterious letter? James looked at Lily who was still sprawled peacefully over his bed. He walked over and kissed the top of her head. Grabbing a spare piece of parchment he scribbled a note that he'd gone to the common room in case she woke up. Walking down the stairs, James found the common room nearly empty. That was odd. Normally it was teaming with people right before a break. Then he spotted Ally and Sirius making out on the couch. That explained it.

"Hey you two, knock it off. No one wants to see that."

Ally pulled back and said, "Then don't look," and went right back to kissing her way down Sirius' nose.

"I just need a moment of your time guys. Please!"

Ally gave an annoyed sigh and moved a little off of Sirius.

"What is it James?" Sirius asked, clearly eager to get back to his previous activity.

"I was wondering it either of you sent this," James said extending the note he'd just gotten. He sincerely doubted it since it looked like they'd been at the making out on the couch thing for a good deal of time, but maybe they'd see something he hadn't.

Ally snatched it away and after a quick perusal said, "Well it's not from me. Besides I thought Lily was going home for Christmas."

Sirius glanced at it as well and said; "Besides, only Remus and I know you were considering inviting her."

"You think Remus sent it?"

"No, he wouldn't," Sirius looked puzzled, "I've got now clues. I don't think I ever even seen handwriting remotely like this before."

"You're going to invite Lily home for Christmas?" Ally squealed, completely forgetting about the not, "That's so sweet."

"Well I can, but I don't want to mess up her plans," James said.

"Who cares? If _I_ were Lily I would rather go home with you than see my family. Besides," Ally said extending the note back to James, "It sounds like she's staying here. I'd wondered why she wasn't packed yet. That little witch! I bet she didn't tell me on purpose, so I wouldn't make a big deal about her spending Christmas here alone. She's been acting so strangely lately." Ally looked at James asking him with her eyes if her friend would get better. "Don't worry, she will," James whispered, more loudly he said, "I'm going to ask her to come."

"Awesome."

"Yeah, that's great. So, can you leave now?" Sirius said wrapping his arms around Ally's waist more possessively.

"You realize that the reason no one is in the common room is because they don't want to watch you two make out."

Sirius looked at Ally, moving a hand to her face, "I guess we could move if we're that repulsive."

"Yeah," Ally whispered, staring dreamily into his eyes.

No wonder everyone had abandoned the common room.

"We've got dibs on the astronomy tower!" She cried leaping up and dragging Sirius with her exited the portrait hold.

The few people left in the common room applauded and James gave them a quick bow before heading back up the stairs. His first thought upon entering his room was Lily. She was still fast asleep. She must really be exhausted. Sitting down beside her he ran his hand down her hair, just to make sure he wasn't dreaming. As his hand reached her back he sighed. She was so thin. If she came home with him he could make sure she ate enough. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, James cleared himself a spot on the floor and laid the now crumpled letter in the center. He'd just had a brilliant idea. Charms wasn't his strong point, but he could certainly give it a try. Dragging out his barely used Charms book from under his bed, he found the page about identifying objects owners. He wasn't sure, but having written the note you would figure that the writer would be connected to it in some way. Reading over the charm, he tried a bit of the wand work. He probably should pay more attention in class; then this would be easier. Turning to the note he closed his eyes muttered the incantation and hoped for the best. When he opened his eyes it looked as though the floor had been covered in a dark mirror, but he didn't see himself in it. He saw Snape.

Snape was cursing as he wrote a letter.

James watched as the letter came into clearer focus; it was the letter he'd received. He heard Snape muttering about how foolish some girl was.

"Why did she have to keep doing him favors? After all he wasn't going to keep paying them back forever. Besides, this note ought to count for a few good favors." When the letter was finished, he folded it and addressed it to James.

Then the mirror went blank and started shrinking into the floor like it was being sucked down a drain pipe. When it was completely gone and the power of the spell dissipated, James stumbled backwards, landing heavily on the chair beside his bed.

Why would Snape write that note? Why would someone like him repay Lily's kindness? How would he know Lily was staying here for the holidays? Why would he care? How did he know James was considering asking her to go home with him? Had James been completely missing something about Snape all these years? Had Lily seen something he had not? Snape had done Lily a favor by sending this note, and by doing Lily a favor he'd done James a favor as well. He could never hex Snape again. How would he explain this to his friends? Lily would be pleased though. He perked up at that. But should he tell her about the note, about what Snape had done? Had Snape helped her out before? Is that what she'd been talking about this morning when she said she'd learned about the benefits of kindness?

James glanced over at her. It was getting near to dinner time; he should wake her up. His mind swirled with questions as he studied her. One of the straps of her tank top had slipped down her arm while she slept. He gently tugged it back up enjoying her enticingly tousled look. His gaze traveled down her body and then stopped at her back. Her tank top had scrunched up and revealed the base of her back while she slept. What had caught his eye was the thin red scar across the revealed skin. James stretched out a finger and touched it. What was it from? He pushed up the back of her tank top a little more intending to get a better look at it only to find that the scar didn't stand alone. It was part of a grotesque checkerboard of scars covering what he could see of her back. He knew what had caused them...a whip. He'd seen scars like this once before on Sirius. His mother had done it; that had been the last straw. Sirius had run away after that. But the Sirius' scars had been healed to barely visible lines on his arms and chest. These scars clearly hadn't been seen by a healer. Was this another aspect of Lily's terror? Some of the scars were farther toward healing than others, had someone been beating her over a few months? Why hadn't she told him? That's when he realized that he had completely invaded her privacy. She would hate him for it, but he couldn't forget about it, she needed medical attention. He trailed a finger down a series of the scars, wondering how he could ever convince her to see a healer. How he could convince her to forgive him for prying into her life where she didn't want him to be.

"Souvenirs," Lily said startling James. He looked up at her. She rolled over, hiding her back, "Death eaters do so _love_ for you to have souvenirs. Not that you'll ever bring them home, but I suppose it's the thought that counts."

"You need to have those healed," he said.

"I don't live near St. Mungo's James, and it's not like I can take something like this to the hospital wing."

"My Aunt Marie is a healer."

"Well, that's nice for you," Lily said, sounding rather cross. She tugged down on her tank top so it thoroughly covered her waist.

"Well if you came to my house for the holidays you could meet her and if I could talk her into working over Christmas, she could take a look at your back."

Lily looked at him, startled.

"I know you're not going home, Lils."

"How did you find out?"

James hesitated, "Someone told me."

Lily looked at him suspiciously then said, "Alright, keep your secrets, Gods know I keep mine."

"So you'll come?!" James said eagerly.

"I haven't packed."

"No problem. You can just wear my clothes."

"I guess I could get my stuff together by tomorrow," Lily said slowly, "Are you sure your family won't mind. I don't want to intrude."

"They won't mind at all. I was supposed to bring Sirius home, but he decided to go to Remus', so he told me to ask you."

"Alright, I'll come," Lily said decisively.

"Great!" James said, pulling her into his arms and lifting her straight off the bed.

"James!" She squealed as he spun her around.

"We're going to have a blast!" He set her on her feet grinning and impulsively leaned down and kissed her. James pulled her close twining his fingers in her hair. Lily wrapped her hands behind his neck and pulled him even closer. When the kiss finally ended James was breathless. Moving his hands out of her hair, he hugged her to him.

"I love you," he whispered. He was rather worried about saying it for the first time when they weren't arguing. Not that he hadn't meant it, but it just doesn't mean the same thing when you're yelling it. She tensed and for one horrible moment he thought she'd pull away from him. Then she let out a shuddering sigh and melted into his arms.

"I love you too," her voice was so quiet, he wondered it he'd imagined it. Pulling back a little, Lily lay a delicate hand on his cheek. "I love you so much," she whispered, her eyes shining with tears.

James put his hand over hers, entwining their fingers. "You have no idea how much it means to hear you say that," James said.

"You have no idea how good it feels to say it," Lily replied leaning her head on his chest.

James buried his nose down into her lustrous hair breathing in its sweet smell. Then his stomach growled. Way to ruin a romantic moment.

Lily giggled, "Hungry?"

"Starving," he admitted.

"Let's eat."

They got to dinner a little late, but there were plenty of extra spaces. James helped Lily into a seat by Remus and then did a quick hop over the table to sit opposite her. Smiling at life, he dug in. Then he looked at Lily. She was staring at her empty plate like it was a challenging arithmacy problem. "Not hungry?" He asked, concerned.

"Oh, no, I just don't know what I want to eat."

"Try the mashed potatoes."

Lily got some and took a bite, "What I'd really like is an apple turnover."

"Haven't seen any, "James said, "We could run by the kitchens after dinner."

"Not that's ok, I'm just being silly. It's just that...Oh never mind."

"No, tell me," James said putting down his fork to let her know she had his full attention.

"Well my family used to go to the apple festival every year and...we didn't this year...so I'm just having apple cravings. I guess I haven't had my yearly dose of apples." She gave a small laugh, "Obviously it's driving me crazy."

"Why didn't you go?"

He smile dropped off of her face, "I'd rather not talk about it right now."

"Maybe later?"

"Later is fine." Turning to Remus, she said, "Where are Sirius and Ally?"

"Who knows?" He said, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah Lils, you should have seen them going at it in the common room. I swear that a few first years have been mentally damaged for life."

"It wasn't that bad," Remus interjected, "But they should really limit that kind of thing to broom closets."

"I think it's cute they finally got together. They make such an adorable couple," Lily said.

Right then Sirius and Ally finally showed up. They both squeezed in beside James. Lily shot him a sympathetic glance.

"So, what have you two love birds been up to?" Remus said winking suggestively, which set Lily off into fits of laughter. James just laughed to his plate. Sirius would probably clobber him if he cracked up like he wanted to.

Apparently Sirius and Ally hadn't caught the joke though because Ally simply launched into an _extremely _in depth description of their day together. Right as it sounded like she was running out of things to say Sirius jumped in and started repeating everything from his perspective. James soon found himself about to fall asleep from sheer boredom, suddenly, a tiny foot tapped his. His head shot up and he met Lily's eyes. She was grinning like a cat who was stalking a canary. The tiny foot was slowly creeping up his ankle. Gods, now he finally understood why his Aunt Reese and Uncle Andrew were always joking with him about finding a girl to play 'footsy' with. He'd honestly thought they were insane, or more likely drunk. James had no idea what to do. The foot had stopped moving, so that probably meant it was his turn; his turn to do _what_, though? He should have paid more attention when Uncle Andrew gave him the 'talk' about the whole 'footsy' thing. Too late now, of course. Hesitantly, he used his free foot to inch up Lily's proffered ankle. Lily grinned broadly at him and then winked. Sirius was still blabbering on about something or another, but his voice seemed distant. Lily was at the center of his world. Then she pulled her foot away, he immediately missed the contact.

"That's great Sirius, but James and I have to go now."

"Go where?" He asked.

"Fishing," James said definitively. He then jumped out of his seat and gestured for Lily to do the same.

As he hurried away he heard Sirius say, "Fishing? Isn't the lake frozen right now?"

Sometimes he was so dense.

Once they reached the great hall James said, "Let's go somewhere."

"What about fishing?"

He stuck his tongue out at her and pulled her through a covered doorway. Leading the way, James took the familiar turns leading to his favorite place inside the castle (except, of course, wherever Lily was, but since that was prone to change, he figured it didn't really count). They emerged into the dark, yet warm room. "Here we are," he said announcing the obvious.

"It's nice," Lily said, clearly not understanding why the small circular room was impressive.

"Look up," he whispered. Instead of following his own advice he watched Lily as she turned her face up the heavens that could be seen through the clear glass dome covering their heads. He watched as her beautiful face turned to awe.

"It's so amazing," she said tilting her head so far back it looked like she would fall over.

James stepped behind her just in case he needed to catch her. She stepped back and settled herself in his arms.

"I don't know if I've ever seen anything so beautiful," Lily whispered in awe.

James looked up at the stars, taking in the way they twinkled like jewels through the glass, so clear and pure; they were beautiful, but he'd seen something far more breathtaking. He thought back to Lily with her face turned up, skin dappled with starlight, eyes smoldering green, and her hair flowing down her shoulders glowing reddish gold in the faint light.

"Not half as beautiful as you." She laughed like he'd told a joke. "I'm serious."

"I certainly hope you aren't Sirius."

"Don't change the subject; you're gorgeous."

"James," she whispered plaintively begging him without words to stop.

"Why won't you believe me?" He asked, trying to understand how anyone could be so blind as to not see her beauty.

"Because it's not the truth James," she said finally.

He turned her around. "It _is_ Lily. It _is_ true. You always try to hide it, but to me your beauty shines right through." He gently touched her face. "You've never looked so beautiful," he said willing her to believe him.

"I'm beautiful when you look at me," she whispered reaching up to touch his cheek.

James gave into temptation and kissed her.

--------

I can't believe it I actually got more reviews than usual! Just to be fair though, I'm warning you that the last chapter was probably the best one I'm going to write. I mean aphrodisiac soap; you just can't get better than that. Although Daystar claims that chapter 7 (I think it's seven, anyway) is tolerable.

Just to say if anyone (cough – niffer – cough) sees the connection to Pieces of Me, it wasn't intentional and I'm actually rather embarrassed about it. I just can't see myself doing a song fic. Just in case you like song fics though, here are the words niffer feels exemplify this chapter:

Cause with you  
I can let my hair down  
I can say anything crazy  
I know you'll catch me right before I hit the ground  
With nothing but a T-shirt on  
I never felt so beautiful  
Baby as I do now  
Now that I'm with you  
With you  
Now that I'm with you

Daystar – I have earned sooo many niffer happy minutes lately, I'm not going to have to update for a good few weeks. j/k. But you better be coming with me Tuesday night to pay me back.

Katalina – Wow, it's a real toughie guessing this one. .. Us kats have to stick together. Thanks for reading though. I'm glad you liked it. By the way, I don't think Remus ever does find his banana. Poor fellow.

Bubbles – The shampoo thing is awesome. I almost fell out of my chair laughing when I wrote it.

Siriusforeva – Ally and Sirius are cute together. I absolutely love writing about them.

Drumergirl90 – I definitely agree about this is the best chapter.

KrissyP – I can picture my friends doing that too, although I don't know about me. I'm more the type who avoids other people's showers. I could do the laundry room though.

Jen – Yeah, Lily gets to have all the fun and poor James has to put up with it. The shirt thing actually comes from real life though; I've actually helped my friend steal boy's shirts before.

Crazayladay – That scene definitely shows why you shouldn't write these things at school. My chem teacher nearly killed me I couldn't stop laughing for so long.

Dk Lily – no kidding I wish _I_ could have James

Pixi-kitty – Thanks for saying the compliment, I do try to write as well as I can.


	6. In which Lily gets revenge

Disclaimer: It's not mine; it's all J.K. Rowling's.

Chapter 6: In which Lily Becomes a Hair Artist

Or

In which Lily Gets Revenge

Lily woke up early the next morning grinning like she'd won the lottery. And if she had, James Potter was a pretty darn good prize. She still had to pack for the holidays, since they'd gotten back to the common room so late last night, but that wasn't the reason she'd gotten up early. Oh, no. This morning was reserved for revenge; sweet revenge. Sirius wasn't going to know what had hit him.

Lily quickly changed into an all black outfit. After all, if she was going to act devious today, she had to look the part. More specifically the foxy criminal part, she thought as she put on some dangly black earrings. Ready to go, she rummaged through Ally's side of the sink. There it was. She grinned devilishly. Grabbing her find, she headed out the door. Sneaking into the boy's dorm was pitifully easy. She was tempted for a moment to go and snuggle up with James, but managed to stop herself. She could do that later. Revenge, however, had only a short time frame. Tiptoeing around the haphazard piles of clothes and books, Lily made her way to the bathroom. She found Sirius' shampoo easily; after all, it had betrayed her only the afternoon before. Opening it up she emptied the contents of the bottle of pink hair dye she'd borrowed from Ally into it.

Her hands kept shaking as she tried not to laugh. Putting the top back on she shook up the shampoo bottle and placed it back in the shower. Now she could have simply spelled the shampoo, but that wasn't the way to successfully get revenge. The only way you could hold your ground against the Marauders was in the muggle mindset. They all came from wizarding families and scoffed at Muggle Studies, so it was the one area where they were weak. So that's where you had to hit them. It would take Sirius weeks to figure out that she hadn't used a spell; weeks with pink hair.

Sneaking out, Lily gave into temptation and ran a hand through James' hair. He murmured something that sounded suspiciously like "Lily" and she grinned. Kissing his cheek, she headed out. It was time to start packing. An hour later she'd managed to cram everything she would need into her small over-night bag; she didn't want to lug her trunk with her. Because of the small packing space Lily had gone with things that took up the least amount of space, like those tank tops she told Ally she didn't have. Oh well; at the very least they would make James happy.

Grabbing an old muggle mystery, she headed down to the common room. It was already bustling; everyone couldn't wait to go home. Lily felt a pang at that, but ignored it, and settled herself by the fire. She'd been reading for only a little while when she (and everyone else in the common room) heard loud cursing emerging from the stairwell. Her name, it seemed, was being interspersed as well. Hmm...maybe it hadn't been such a great idea to tuck that drawing of a lily into the mirror. But what is the point of a great prank like this if one doesn't take credit for it? If you can out fox the Marauders then you deserve to advertise it. Ok, so it might also be useful that Sirius couldn't really get revenge on her without risking early death by James Potter.

As Sirius emerged into the common room Lily burst out laughing. He was only wearing a towel, which he as holding around his waist and his hair was....iridescent pink. He marched over to where she sat and stood in front of her, practically growling; in his hand he had clutched the drawing of a lily.

"Dashing new look, Sirius," she got out before dissolving into another fit of giggles.

"What the hell did I do to you?" He demanded.

"I don't know," she said feigning like she was deep in thought, "But it probably involved a camera."

"What's all the fuss about?" James said, stepping into the common room still in his pajamas. Then his eyes focused on Sirius; next, they then shot to Lily, who was grinning like a criminal mastermind (a sexy criminal mastermind at that). Sirius started sputtering about James keeping a tighter leash on his girlfriend, but James probably didn't hear, seeing as he was bent over double laughing his head off.

"Ugh," Sirius scowled, "Take the spell off NOW!"

"I can't," Lily answered truthfully.

Sirius looked like he was being desperately tempted to hit her, but she sat there serenely knowing he wouldn't. Whatever else he did, Sirius Black didn't hit women; he only pranked them to high hell.

"Maybe you'll think twice before you prank me again, Sirius Pink," she cracked up again; she hadn't been able to resist that last jibe.

"I'm telling you, take it off right now," he said, grabbing her belt loop and pulling her up.

Probably not such a great move; the second he touched her, James stopped laughing.

Sirius shot a look at James, whose eyes had darkened dangerously, and instantly dropped his hold on her. "Sorry..." he muttered, shooting another look at James, who had just walked over. "Well, maybe you can talk her into telling me which spell she used," he said, clearly giving up getting any answers out of Lily.

James wrapped an arm around her waist, "You're forgetting, Padfoot, that camera prank was played on me as well. Besides, I rather like your new look."

Sirius growled and turned to go back upstairs. Then Ally emerged from the stairwell and glanced at his hair. Unlike every other person thus far to do so she didn't laugh, she grinned, "I like it."

Sirius' grim expression lightened instantly, "Really?"

"Yeah, it's sexy," she said and ran her fingers through his dazzlingly pink hair, "I did wonder where my hair dye had gone."

"It's muggle dye?" Sirius choked out, looking horrified.

Ally grinned, "And if you're a good boy, I'll show you how to get it out."

Sirius looked eager at that. He'd probably be carrying Ally's books for the rest of the year to pay her for her expert knowledge of muggle hair dyes.

For a moment there was silence as Sirius followed Ally back up the stairs listening to her talk about purple highlights, and then every single person in the common room fell over laughing. James swung Lily off her feet and told her quite loudly that she was an absolute genius. She grinned as he kissed her on the cheek.

"My Dad is going to love hearing this one," James said grinning proudly. "He always said I was going to find a girl who was ten times sneakier than me, and it was going to throw me for a loop."

"I threw you for a loop?" Lily asked confused.

"Don't tell me you didn't notice that I spent all of the past two years trying to get you to go out with me."

"Actually, I did notice that."

"But Dad's absolutely going to love you. Anyone who can dye Sirius' hair pink will certainly be a god in his opinion. I have to say," he said, leaning closer to her in a sort of confidential way, "I thought it was very cunning myself."

Alright, chalk one up for her foxy criminal persona. It was in business.

"I guess I better go get dressed," James said.

"Do you have to? You look so cute in your boxers."

He laughed, "Although you do make a good point, I'd rather not freeze."

"Fine, fine, have it your way. Maybe you should take a shower too," she suggested casually.

"I took one last night! Do I smell bad already?"

"No, but your soap sure does smell good."

James grinned, "I'll save you some, if I can have a kiss."

"I'm not going to be blackmailed," Lily informed him and then promptly gave him a quick peck on the lips. Her will power seemed to be diminishing by the second. Worthless will power, it couldn't even hold its ground in the face of an amazing, wonderful, adorable, half-dressed, really good smelling man. On second though, who could blame it?

"Well I better hurry up," he said, "We wouldn't want to miss the train. Why don't you grab your stuff and meet me down here in 10 minutes."

"Alright," she said, still puzzling about her will power.

"Great," James said as he pulled away from her and with one last tug on her ponytail, headed back up the stairs.

Lily felt like swooning, but she figured that might be a bit embarrassing. Instead, she sank back into her chair trying to ignore all of the gaping first years. Her book had fallen to the floor, so she picked it up and tried to figure out which page her bookmark had fallen from. It was useless; her mind wouldn't concentrate. Heading back up the stairs, she side-stepped Sirius and Ally, who were making out on the landing, and scurried up the remaining stairs to the girl's dorm. Grabbing her bag, Lily swung it onto her shoulder. Looking around, she couldn't help feeling that she was forgetting something. Her eyes fell on the small wooden box that sat under the edge of her bed. Picking it up, she flipped it open and stared at the few photographs and other mementos inside. Looking away, she snapped the lid closed and keeping the box clutched in her hand walked out the door. She didn't know why she was bringing it, but for some reason she couldn't leave it. James was already down in the common room when she got there. He had a small bag at his feet and, of course, his broomstick.

----------

Wow! I got so many reviews. I'm absolutely speechless. I do want to thank everyone for reviewing though. I'm going to have to stop thanking everyone individually since there are so many of you, but if you feel the need for an individualized response or have a question, don't hesitate to say so.

Daystar: Alrighty, all my lovely comma mistakes are fixed, so you are off the hook. By the way, I completely earned 30 niffer happy minutes typing that new section.


	7. In which James deals with syphilis

It's not mine; it's all J.K. Rowling's.

Chapter 7: In which James Travels Down the Tunnel of Certain Doom

Or

In which James Deals with Syphilis

James smiled when he saw Lily, completely forgetting about his conversation with Remus. He eyed her overflowing bag and the box in her hand, and being the gentleman he was, asked, "Do you want to put that box in my bag?"

"Sure," Lily said, handing it to him.

He bent and slipped it easily into his nearly empty bag. Standing up, he slung his bag up and over his head to rest at his side. This left him with a hand for Lily's bag and his broom and a hand for Lily.

"Let's go," he said, pulling her with him down to the carriages. He kept a firm hold on her until he found them an empty compartment on the train. Once she was settled across from Remus, he said, "I'll be right back. I've got to find Sirius before he misses the train."

So he headed out, but instead of finding Sirius he found another Black...Regulus.

"Watch it, pretty boy," Regulus sneered, haughty in spite of the fact he was younger and stupider than James.

"I wouldn't throw insults, Black, unless you want a detention," James warned. He hardly ever actually gave detentions, but Regulus was certainly tempting him. Regulus just glared though, and shouldered past him. James couldn't blame Sirius for wanting to get away from his family. James looked around some more, but didn't see Sirius. Then the train pulled out; too late now, one way or the other. He was almost back to the compartment when he had to dodge a wildly flapping banner that read:

**_Syphilis for Sale_**

Shit, who came up with that kind of thing? It was just sick. He would dearly have loved to ignore the sign, but he was Head Boy, so he couldn't just walk away. He looked around for a prefect he could assign the task to, but didn't see one. Damn. With a sigh he pushed the door to the compartment open, hoping Lily wouldn't mind waiting a little longer. What he saw inside the compartment couldn't have surprised him more. There weren't any seats; instead, there was only a table with three first years in orange jumpsuits behind it. They all looked at him when he entered the room.

"Hello..." James said, trailing off uncertainly. "Look, I'm sorry to bother you, but I wanted to inquire about the sign on the door." After he said it he realized how it must sound. "Not about it really, I just want to talk with the person who's selling...ummm...well you know, and...well I just want to speak to who's in charge," he finished lamely.

"Of course, of course," one of the first years said with an air of intelligence.

"Right through that door, sir," they all chorused at once, gesturing to a normal wooden door that looked decidedly out of place in such an un-normal environment.

"Alright," James said and reluctantly went over to the door and opened it. He could tell he was in for a bad day. There were maybe 5 first years in this room, all of whom were wearing togas. Yes, togas. Who wears togas? Well, the togas didn't actually look that out of place considering that the whole room was done up like a jungle of sorts. In fact there were animals that looked suspiciously like monkeys in the trees. Sidestepping a ginger snapping plant that was trying to caress his ankles James called out to the nearest first year, "I'm looking for someone to talk to about the sign in the corridor!" He was feeling slightly desperate by now. He just wanted to get back to his compartment and back to Lily who would tell him he was very brave for taking on a bunch of first years in togas in order to do his job as head boy.

The first year, a girl as it turned out, smiled angelically. "That way," she said, pointing to what James decided to dub 'The Tunnel of Certain Doom.' It looked very foreboding.

Cursing his luck, he set out toward it, barely getting away from the tarragon hybrid that was trying to stick his eyes out. Reaching the tunnel he found that the entrance was made of snakes. SNAKES! What kind of sick person came up with this? More importantly, what had he done to deserve this? If he made it out of this alive he swore he'd pay more attention to his head duties. Honestly! Steeling himself, he began walking through the tunnel. It wasn't that bad. He'd gotten in maybe 20 steps when something slimy touched his shoulder. He whirled around and promptly lost his balance, falling into a pond. A pond! How in the world did you get a pond in a train? Maybe he wasn't even on the train anymore. Maybe he'd died and gone to hell. Scrambling up, James flat out started to run. It was pitch black and he couldn't see a thing. He fought his way through thorns that scratched his arms and tore at his clothing. He was certain that he was going to die. It wouldn't be long now and then...it was over. He was in the light. After he recovered his equilibrium, he found he was standing in a plain compartment, dripping wet and covered in scratches, but he was most certainly on the train and still alive.

Eyeing the two boys sitting in the compartment, he resisted the urge to go and demand of them why the hell there was a pond and a thicket of thorns in the adjoining compartment. Instead he ground out, "Who...do I see...about the sign...in the corridor?" The boys looked up nervously.

"That would be me," the boy with sandy brown hair said, "I'm the one selling the fish."

The fish. Fish? FISH!

Damn worthless, can't spell, can't proof-read, can't _think_, first years. How could anyone be stupid enough to confuse fish and syphilis? _FISH_! They probably did it on purpose. They probably thought it was a right fine joke. Or they were really stupid, but still. James could feel his eye twitching.

"How...many...f...f...fi...fish...sh...do you have left?" He said slowly, dangerously.

"Ummm...two," the boy said looking worried. "Would you like to buy one? I can give you a really good deal."

James thought it over. "I'll take them both," he said solemnly pulling a galleon out of his pocket.

"Great!" The kid said, enthusiastically pulling out two goldfish frozen in ice. "All you have to do is plop these two in some water and they'll perk right up."

James accepted the two frozen fish blocks and then, trying to sound casual said, "Well I suppose now that you've sold all the f...fish...sh, you don't need that sign in the corridor anymore. Would you like me to take it down for you?"

"That would be great," the kid gushed.

"Thanks," James muttered heading for the door. As he reached the door, he couldn't resist adding, "By the way you might want to review your marketing staff. Maybe hire some new blood. Someone with a brain per say." Then he left the compartment, his shoes squishing out puddles of water as he went.

Once out in the corridor he set his fish blocks down and walked over to the sign. He carefully took the sign off the wall, undid the residue of the sticking charm, folded the sign into neat quarters, and efficiently tore it into tiny, tiny pieces. He felt a little bit better. Then he pulled open a window and threw the pieces out. Now he definitely felt better. Sighing, he stooped, picked his fish up from the floor, and finally made it back to the compartment. Opening the door, James stepped in, glad to be among friends, who certainly were NOT first years and most definitely knew the difference between fish and syphilis. Sirius had apparently managed to find the compartment on his own. He and Remus were discussing ways of removing muggle hair dye, while Ally listened grinning and Lily was flipped through a magazine. Everyone looked up as he closed the door. Lily gasped and Sirius jumped to his feet, grabbing for his wand. That's when he realized what he must look like, dripping water on the floor, covered in what rather seemed to be slime, his clothes torn, and scratches bleeding up and down his arms from protecting his face.

He put a hand on Sirius' arm, "No need to get defensive, Padfoot; unless you're interested in picking a fight with the tunnel of doom." James groaned and sank into Sirius' vacated seat, letting the fish fall to the floor. He leaned down and pulled off his shoes, letting good sized puddles of water pour onto the floor.

"What happened?" Lily asked, moving over and gently pressing a handkerchief to his cuts.

James started to answer then stopped. Thought about what his answer would be and burst out in laughter. He laughed for a good minute while his friends looked on in a worried fashion.

"I'm sorry," he finally managed, "It's just so awful that it's really funny."

Lily looked at him, her beautiful green eyes filled with worry.

"Hey," he said, "No worries, I'm fine." He desperately wanted to run a finger down her cheek or kiss her or something, but he figured she wouldn't appreciate the slime.

Grinning widely he launched into his story. Sirius had fallen over laughing somewhere in the middle of the story; coincidentally enough he fell right into Ally's lap, so no harm done. Lily was the only one who managed to stopper her laughter at the end of the story.

"I knew you would eventually do _one_ of your head boy duties."

"The first and the last time," he agreed.

"That does sound pretty awful." She looked at the frozen fish by his feet, "What are you doing to do with them?"

"Oh, I'll probably give them to my dad, I'll name them Doom and Destruction. He'll appreciate the story behind them."

Lily smiled, "That's a good idea. I don't think fish are technically allowed at Hogwarts."

"Going to give me detention, head girl?"

"No," she said, wrinkling her nose, "I will order you to clean up though."

"No problem. Ladies out; I'm going to change into some clean robes."

Sirius finally stopped his laughing to say, "Are you sure you don't want Lily to stay and help?"

"Shut-up, Pinky," James said, giving Sirius a friendly shove into the corridor. Ally followed him, dragging Remus with her. Lily was about to leave when the door slammed shut. James' eyes widened. That little sneak! He dove for the door, trying to get there before Sirius could perform a locking spell. Just as he grabbed the handle he heard the click indicating the locking spell was in place. He tugged the handle four times to no avail. Damn, it would take him a good two hours to figure out the right counter-spell.

"Lily, I'm so sorry. I should have figured he'd do that."

"It's not your fault, James. I wouldn't bother," she said with a nod toward the door, "They'll let us out before we get to the platform."

"Yeah," he sighed heavily, shifting uncomfortably in the sticky wetness of his robe.

"I'll turn around."

"You know what they'll say if I've changed clothes?" James said in disbelief.

"They'll say it anyway," she replied sensibly, "Besides they won't really mean it." She turned around pointedly, her earrings and ponytail swinging temptingly.

If he changed clothes and cleaned up a bit he could kiss her. That was actually a really good point. Grabbing a clean robe out of his bag, he changed in record time.

"I'm done," he said, trying to get the cleaning charm he was using to cooperate.

Lily pulled out her wand and, with an idle flick, completed his charm, leaving him spotlessly clean. James held out his arms and she settled in them, snuggling close. James decided to sit down, so they rearranged a little and settled with Lily's head in his lap, so her hair was easily accessible for running his fingers through.

"I ought to warn you," he said, breaking the easy silence, "You're the first girl I've brought home, so the family might go a little bit overboard."

"Overboard?"

"Oh, you know, 'How cute! His first girlfriend.' Then they'll start comparing notes on you like how your skin complexion is, if you have good posture and things like that while you're standing right in front of them. At least that's how I figure it's going to be. I wouldn't know, but that just sounds like my family."

"Can't you just pay off one of your cousins to distract them? I did that once, a long time ago; it worked beautifully. Everyone was so preoccupied with Laura's supposed boyfriend with a tongue ring they completely forgot to care that I'd streaked my hair purple."

James nearly fainted at that. "Purple?" He said his voice rising embarrassingly on the last syllable.

Lily nodded.

"Please, please promise you'll never do that again!"

Lily looked amused, "What do I get if I promise?"

James though hurriedly, chocolates? No; to obvious...umm...lilies? No; to clichéd...umm...then he realized what she'd been getting at. Geez, he was stupid sometimes.

"How about a kiss?"

"Sounds fair to me," she said grinning.

He brushed his lips over hers. She pouted adorably, so he went back for a longer kiss.

When they broke apart, James' mind was spinning, so when Lily said, "So can't you pay off a cousin?" It took him a good deal of time to remember what she was talking about.

"Oh...well I don't have any cousins."

Lily looked surprised, "Then who are all of these relatives who will be scrutinizing us?"

James tried to figure out what the best way to explain the jumble that was his family would be. "I was the first born child to my parents. I was actually the first born in my dad's generation of the Potter family. Since my father was the eldest child and set to inherit the Potter dynasty, a first born son was a big deal. Everyone celebrated and all that," he sighed heavily, "Then there was an accident; my mom barely lived. In fact my dad always says it was a miracle that saved her, but she did lose the chance to have any more children. It wasn't that big of a deal though. My parents had me, and my dad had 6 brothers who were all starting to marry. Everyone figured it wouldn't be long until the Potter family was up to its ears in children. It's kind of ironic really that every single one of my uncles married and found they couldn't have children for one reason or another. So, I'm all they have. It's kind of like I'm everyone's son since they don't have any children of their own. I imagine this is going to be like the worst meeting the parents' story you've ever heard multiplied by 12. In fact, now that I think about it, this is going to be plain awful."

Lily was wrinkling her nose, "You couldn't have told me this _before_ I agreed to go home with you?"

"Nope," he said, grinning fondly at her and smoothing her silky hair, "It'll be fun."

"Yeah, fun," she said sarcastically, then sat up.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and tucked his chin in her shoulder. "I'll make snow angels with you..."

------

Hey! I hope you liked this chapter. I just want to warn you things will get a little confusing in the upcoming chapters because of James many, many relatives. I'm going to publish a little guide to them at the bottom of the next chapter, but really it doesn't matter too much who they are as individuals, just that they're his family.

As always thanks to my reviewers, you guys are awesome!

Kelly – get your own life. Mine's zippy fine

Daystar – Mondo niffer happy minutes to Kathryn. I'm going to work on that letter sometime, honestly.


	8. In which Lily meets the family

It's not mine; it's all J.K. Rowling's.

Chapter 8: In Which Lily Decides She Hates Secret Passage Ways

Or

In Which Lily Meets the Family

Damn! He knew her weakness.

"I do like snow angels," she said slowly.

"Uh-huh," he breathed in her ear.

"I guess if you promised there would be snow angels, I could make it."

James was kissing her neck now, which was really rather distracting. Hell, it was extremely distracting. She turned in his arms and kissed him right on the lips. Apparently he hadn't been expecting that though, because he lost his balance on the seat and, of course, both of them fell to the floor. They landed with a thud and James grimaced in pain. It didn't really bother Lily though, since James had cushioned her fall.

She giggled, "How romantic, you really swept me off my feet."

James started laughing too. "You're so wonderful," he said before pulling her back down for another kiss.

_Did you hear that?_

_Yeah_

_Should we check?_

_Probably._

_Ok, let's go._

The door burst open right in the middle of their kiss, much to Lily's annoyance.

"Holy shit!" Sirius said, "I didn't actually expect you guy to go at it!"

James tilted his head back, so he could see Sirius. "Well, you said to get a room."

"James," Lily said, lightly hitting his chest and turning bright red. "We simply fell off the seat and were going to get up...eventually...but we hadn't gotten around to it yet."

Ally was laughing, "Well, since you guys have been such a good couple, I guess we'll let you out."

James looked thoughtful, "No, That's ok. I kind of like it without you guys."

"I think I've been insulted," Sirius said in mock offense.

James laughed and gently started pushing Lily off of him. But Lily didn't want to get off. I mean, she was perfectly comfortable and it was such an effort to get up. She supposed she should get up, but did she really _have_ to? Grinning, she latched on to James' neck and buried her face in his chest. She liked being able to feel his laugh as he struggled to get up against her leverage. Somehow or another, probably something to do with those mighty fine Quidditch muscles of his, he got them both upright with Lily sprawled across his lap. And that's how the rest of the train ride was spent.

When they arrived at Platform 9 and 3/4, Lily got off James and he grabbed their bags and his broom, pulling her toward the door. They got off the train and Lily hugged Ally goodbye while James had a few words with Sirius and Remus. Right as she turned to go Ally grabbed her arm.

"Be safe, Lils," she hesitated slightly, "I know you don't want to hear this, but James' dad is the head of Auror Defense. Maybe you should talk to him..."

"You're right," Lily said softly, yet firmly, "I don't want to hear that."

She turned to go again.

"Think about it," Ally said quietly and Lily pretended she hadn't heard her. Lily would, of course, think about it. She wouldn't do anything about it, but she would think about it.

James was standing with two people Lily guessed were his parents. They looked very kind in a slightly graying way and they were both smiling and laughing nicely at something Sirius had said. Lily felt a pang somewhere inside and proceeded to do something very stupid. She burst into tears for no reason at all in the middle of the platform. Luckily, no one really noticed. These were falling tears, not wailing tears. James, being the annoying and highly observant (at least when it came to her) person he was, immediately noticed and practically ran to her asking if she was ok; how he could make it better? Who did she want him to kill because whoever made her cry would pay? She just kept shaking her head. Hell, she didn't even know why she was crying, much less how to make it stop. He pulled her to his chest, holding her there.

"It's going to be alright," he whispered, "Whatever it is; we'll get through it."

Finally Lily's tears stopped; she still clung to his chest, sniffling. People were just starting to drift from the platform when Lily finally pulled away. Lily could see Ally and Sirius having a good-bye kiss, kisses really, over by James' parents, who were laughing at them along with Ally's parents. James wiped off her face with his robe sleeve.

"I must look awful," she whispered, embarrassed.

"No, you look beautiful," he said, fondly kissing her forehead. He hesitated a bit. "Do you want to talk about this now?" He asked clearly trying to feel his way through the unfamiliar territory of girls who cry without a reason.

"No," Lily said, shaking her head, "We need to get moving."

"Ok," James said, "But later?"

Lily nodded and pulled out her wand. She did a quick spell that would clear up her tear stains and get her hair back in some semblance of order. Then James was pulling her over to his parents.

"Hey, Mum, Dad, this is Lily Evans," he said, smiling happily and tucking his arm around her waist.

Mrs. Potter smiled distantly, "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Lily. And I do hate to ruin your goodbyes, but we really must be going." She was looking pointedly at James' arm around Lily's waist.

Lily started to blush; there was no going back now.

"You're right dear; we really have to hurry up," Mr. Potter agreed, "Come on boys!" He clapped his hands at Sirius, who was still kissing Ally good-bye, "You can invite her to New Years kiddo; we've got to get a move on."

Sirius looked rather out of it but he did come up with an answer, an embarrassing answer, the git. "I'm going to Remus'. James dear is bringing home his girlfriend so that he can kiss her everyday over break." Then in a conspiratorial whisper he added, "He's worried that she'll find someone who smells better than him if he leaves her to her own devices."

She shouldn't have dyed his hair pink; she should have just killed him. She was bright red now and James didn't seem to be in any better condition, shuffling his feet and refusing to look at anyone. Lily chanced a look at James' parents, expecting dark looks; instead they looked like Christmas and their birthday's had come early.

"You're his girlfriend!" Mrs. Potter exclaimed. "Oh, how exciting; he's finally brining home a girl."

Lily then found herself enveloped in a tight hug.

"This is going to be so much fun. Look at you; you're so pretty, no wonder James is worried someone will steal you away."

Mrs. Potter finally let her go, and as she was trying to get in a good few breaths, Mr. Potter grabbed her hand and began pumping it up and down. Grinning he told his wife that James didn't have to worry; no woman had yet to refuse the infamous Potter charm.

"Actually," James said casually putting his arm back around her waist and effectively fending off the hugging and handshaking, "Lily's the only girl I know who's immune to it."

"One of the reasons he's been in love with her since 5th year," Sirius interjected.

"You know Sirius," Lily said casually, "Maybe you better find the Lupins; wouldn't want them to leave without you."

"They wouldn't leave without me," Sirius said, not catching her drift.

"Yes, and wouldn't it be a pity if you had pink fingernails to go with that hair of yours," Lily continued, pretending she hadn't heard him.

Sirius blanched, "You know, that's a good point. I'll see you at New Years, Ally." He kissed her one more time and hurried off.

Ally grinned, "Till New Years, then," and left with her parents.

"Do I even want to know why Sirius dyed his hair pink?" Mr. Potter asked.

James and Lily both started laughing.

"Oh, he didn't dye it willingly. It's a great story. I'll tell it to you in the car."

They left the platform and made it to the 'car'. It was really more of a luxury suite on wheels, but Lily didn't say anything. She just looked out the window while James regaled his parents with the story of her pink hair dye adventure. His dad was laughing so hard, Lily was surprised he could hold the wheel straight. Oh well. It didn't surprise her that it was a magic car. Of course, James embellished the story, making Lily seem even more cunning than usual; all and all though, it was a nice trip.

Then they arrived at James' house. House probably wasn't the right word for it though. She guessed that a house would probably fit into his living room.

"James," she said as he helped her out of the car, "You know that list of things that you should tell people before you invite them over?"

"You mean the one with the fact I have 12 aunts and uncles on it?"

"Yeah, that one. You really ought to add that you live in a mansion too."

James grinned, "And ruin the surprise?" He kissed her cheek, "You'll love the library."

Lily didn't have a doubt that she would, but wouldn't one get lost in a house so big? She'd need a map to find the kitchen.

James pulled Lily up the steps and the door opened automatically as soon as they were within reach. Almost as if there was an invisible butler there. Lily glanced over her shoulder as he pulled her inside and saw the car being driven off to the garage by some sort of spell. James helped her out of her cloak and dropped it to the floor. Lily watched amazed as it flew through the air and hung itself neatly on a hanger. This truly was a pureblood house.

"The rest of the family's in the kitchen," Mrs. Potter said, "They're all going to want to meet you."

She grabbed Lily's arm and dragged her through a maze of hallways at warp speed, barely allowing Lily time to catch a glance at the high ceilings and antique furniture. Finally, they arrived in a warmly lit kitchen that could have come from any muggle home, except for the lack of appliances.

"We're home," Mrs. Potter crowed happily as Lily tried to take in the large number of people seated around the kitchen table. She guessed there were probably 12. This was going to be harder than she'd thought. There was no possible way she'd ever remember all of their names. Every single pair of eyes in the room focused on her and Lily fought the urge to fidget nervously. She tried to put on a happy smile; this was James' family and she wanted them to like her.

"This," Mrs. Potter said dramatically, "Is James' girlfriend, Lily!" The way she said it Lily felt a bit like she was being auctioned off; obviously Mrs. Potter wanted to make sure the rest of the family liked her as well.

The room exploded with voices. It appeared that all of the relatives agreed that they'd never thought it could happen; they were all extremely happy, and they all wanted to pinch her cheek and give her lectures on not letting that rascal do anything inappropriate or chastity being the best course of action where Potter men are concerned, depending on the respective sexes of the well wishers.

Lily just stood still and tried to smile, but she must have come off as a bit scared because James shouted, "Ok, ok, I get the point. You're all surprised a girl would even dream of going out with me. But you wouldn't want to blow this amazing once in a life time chance by scaring my girlfriend to death, would you?"

"Quite right," Mr. Potter said, smiling, "We're lucky Ms. Evans is here at all." He pulled out a chair and gestured her into it. James sat down beside her and entwined their fingers.

"So," a woman with blondish gray hair said, "You go to Hogwarts?"

"Yes, I do," Lily said.

"Lily's head girl," James informed everyone, beaming proudly.

"Really now? So she's a smart one, then," a portly man who sat to the left of the blondish gray woman said.

James, clearly intent on extolling her virtues, launched into a long description of all the classes she was number one in, which was pretty much everything except for transfiguration.

"James, of course, has me beat in transfiguration," she interjected eager to change the subject.

"Of course, James was always one for transfiguration. Just like his uncle Robert," The blonde gray woman said gesturing to the portly man. Ok, so his name was Robert; she needed to remember that.

Suddenly Mrs. Potter said, "Oh dear, how rude of me. You haven't been introduced to everyone."

So Lily was give a whirlwind of names, the only one of which she caught was Reese. Odd name really, it reminded her of Reese's Cups...yum. After the introductions the conversation turned to talk of jobs Lily had never heard of and jokes she didn't get. All and all, she felt rather stupid. She really should since she'd thought a pureblood family might be like any other. When she tuned back into the conversation everyone was telling James to take someone on a tour. Oh wait; they wanted him to take her on a tour. That didn't sound too bad. So James took her arm and guided her out of the kitchen followed by enough hearty winks to make your eye twitch.

Once they reached the hallway, James immediately started apologizing, "I'm so sorry, Lils. They're crazy, I mean absolutely insane. I should have told them to be good before you got here. They're never going to behave themselves now. It's not that they don't mean well, it's just..."

Lily cut him off with a kiss, which James deepened and pulled her into what he referred to as the 'drawing room'. So they sat on the couch for a while trading kisses until James decided that they really needed to get moving with the tour or else the relatives would get suspicious.

"So what does one need to know about this house," Lily prompted after they'd walked down several hallways without going through any of the many doors.

"Oh, well there's really not much to the house." James said, shrugging.

"Umm...James, it's a mansion. How can there be nothing to it?"

"Well, we never even use most of the rooms."

"Ok, so show me what you do use. And then get me a map, so I don't end up lost in some dark forbidding corridor."

"Ah well, that I can remedy. Not the map, but if you ever want the lights to come on you can pull a spell chain which are pretty much everywhere or call 'lights on', although the spell's really old, so sometimes it doesn't work."

"Ok, so now it'll be a light forbidding corridor."

"Yep, aren't I a great boyfriend?"

"Sure, James," she said, rolling her eyes.

James pretended to look hurt, so she gave him a kiss.

"Other than that," James said, pulling back, "The only other things I can warn you about are the secret passage ways."

"Secret passages ways? Like the ones they have in horror novels that the heroines disappear into and never come out of?"

"Yeah, kind of like that, but I know my heroine would come back. Since I would go get her if she didn't."

"_OH_ that's comforting. So if I get myself locked in a secret room you'll come find me, preferably before I die."

"Of course, dear lady of mine, although I won't make any promises about the time frame. There are a lot of secret passage ways, and some I don't even know about."

"You, not know about secret passage ways? I'm shocked. In fact, I do believe I'll faint right here." Lily grinned and pretended to fall on him. He caught her, scooping her into his arms.

"Right this way, my lady," he said carrying her into a library. It was huge. "This," he said, setting her down, "Is the small library."

The small library. Whoa, she didn't even want to think what the big one would be like. She walked over to look at the empty fireplace. The entire thing was decorated with mosaics of different animals and plants. Some she had never even dreamed of before. Like half platypus, half butterfly, and half fish, wait that's too many halves, oh well.

"This is amazing," she said running her finger over the wings of the butterfly. Suddenly, she felt sick, like she had been spinning for to long. She leaned on the wall to maintain her balance, and then the world was black.

She blinked a few times. It was completely black; there wasn't a smidgen of light, _anywhere_. Damn! She'd known this was going happen as soon as James had mentioned the secret passage ways. It was just her luck that she'd end up trapped in one of them. Come on, who, in there right mind, makes a secret passage that pulls you into it when you run your finger over a butterfly wing? That's just sick.

No need to panic though. She was a smart independent girl and she could certainly get herself out of a measly secret passage way.

"Lights on," she said hesitantly. No lights came one. The spell obviously didn't work in secret passage ways.

Not a problem, after all, she wasn't a witch for nothing. And every good witch has a wand that can easily light up the darkest of secret passage ways. All one has to do is whisper, "Lumos," and, voila, you can see.

All she had to do was pull out her wand...

Her wand that was in her pocket...

Her pocket which was part of her cloak...

Her cloak that was hanging in the downstairs closet...

DAMN!

This was turning into a bad day.

----

Hey! Sorry this took so long to get up, but I'm really swamped with school work. I'm still going to keep posting, but it's just going to be a little slower than it used to be. Sorry.

**James' Family (every pair is married)**

Krista – mom, sensible, counselor

Tristan – dad, head of auror defense, 1st son

Lauren – blonde gray hair

Robert – portly man, good at transfiguration, 2nd son

Edna – spindly, rather pure blood happy

Walter – (he doesn't really do much), 3rd son

Marie – healer

Charles – Charlie, 4th son

Liza – (haven't decided yet) but nice

Matt – nice fellow, gives good advice, 5th son

Reese – brash, occasionally gets drunk, nice enough though

Andrew – outgoing like his wife, 6th son

Mary – pretty young, trim

Joe – baby of the family, 7th son

If you want to ignore all that; go ahead, but in case you like knowing exactly who everyone is, there you go.

Thanks for all of the reviews!

**Daystar** – Ugh, too much school work. I say we drop out and become traveling acrobats. What do you think?

**prongs312 - **Sorry the last chapter was confusing. If you want you can just pretend it didn't happen. There's nothing really important in it besides the fish, but they're not even that important, I just like them.

**Crazayladay** – I figured the green might clash with her eyes and you can't have that. Although green is an awesome color.

**Seren Lunar Echo** – Kathryn's are awesome, we really ought to take over the world.

**JamesLvr4eva** – I'm sorry it wasn't as long. It really is my fault because I got a smaller journal and now when I fill up the same number of pages as I did in the last one there are less words, so the chapters get shorter. I'm trying to work on it though.

**Hannah** – Sorry, but don't worry I'll keep posting even if it takes a little longer to get out.

**DK Lili, short-tempered, siriusforeva, Sam, warrior of tortall** – Thanks for reading!


	9. In which James tells off his aunt

It's not mine; it's J.K. Rowling's.

Chapter 9: In which James Comes to the Rescue

Or

In which James Tell off his Aunt

James stared at the wall where Lily had just been leaning, open mouthed. Gods forsaken secret passage ways! He pulled out his wand and walked over to the wall. Now he just had to figure out what she'd been doing to trigger the passage way that had pulled her in. Ok, she'd been running her fingers over the mosaics. He ran his hand up and down the mosaic and then went horizontally. Nothing worked. Damn it. He was going to need some help.

When he entered the kitchen at a run, his family, who had been animatedly chatting about Lily, stopped short.

"James?" his mother said, looking at him questioningly.

"Lily got eaten by a secret passage way in the small library. I think she triggered it by touching the mosaics on the fire place. I just wanted to know if anyone knew about that particular one..." James shot a hopeful glance at his relatives.

"You mean the one that connects to the attic?" His aunt Liza asked.

"I don't know, how do you trigger that one?"

"I think you have to rub the wings of the platofish."

"Thanks!" James called, already running out the door.

He heard his mom say, as he ran down the hall, "Were you that worried about me when I got stuck in that secret passage in our shower, Tristan?"

That was his mothers favorite complaint. Apparently, they'd just gotten back from their honeymoon and she'd gotten sucked into a secret room off of the shower that triggered if you picked up the soap at exactly 9:15 in the morning. She'd been stuck in the tiny dark room, naked, for 4 hours before his dad even noticed she was gone and then for an additional 3 hours while the whole family scoured the house for her. In the end his dad had found her, but she'd was very pissed off by that point. James didn't blame her, but he had no intention of making Lily wait 7 hours.

Back in the library, he pulled out his wand and carefully ran his fingers over the platofishes wings. He felt a sick feeling and then he was in the passage.

"Lumos," he said, his wand light nearly blinding him in the dark. Lily was huddled against the opposite wall, curled in the fetal position.

"Lily," he said, kneeling by her and pulling her into his arms. She clutched him to her like she was drowning and he was her life preserver. He gently picked her up in his arms, it was pitifully easy, as always. She really needed to eat more. Holding up his wand, he located the exiting panel and pushed it. Then they were back in the library. He went over and sat down on the couch, keeping Lily close.

"I'm so sorry, Lils. I didn't even know there was a passage there. Gods, I bet you wish you'd never agreed to come. I just didn't realize you'd have such an awful time," he rambled on, really glad she didn't seem to be trying to kill him (His dad swore that as soon as he'd gotten his mom out of the shower room she'd tried to break his nose, his mother claimed that he was exaggerating, she'd only been trying to give him a black eye).

"I'm not having an awful time," she told him, her eyes still slightly panicked, "I like being here with you."

James grinned at that. She smiled at him and, in general, looked pretty damn kissable, so he did what any sane man would do; he kissed her.

It was nothing fancy, just a short kiss, but when it ended Lily was curled in his arms, obviously feeling much better.

"I think I've had enough of the small library," Lily told him clearly wanting to get out of there.

"How about a tour of the big library?"

"Is it really bigger than this one?"

"Yep."

"I would like to see it..."

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" He said, helping her off of the couch.

The big library was an impressive place with its towering shelves of books that stretched two stories high. James pulled the spell chain and the glittering light globes his many time great-grandfather had installed lit up.

Lily looked at him. "Don't worry, there aren't any secret passage ways in here," he told her. _Well, except for that one, _he thought, _but she probably wouldn't find it._

She wandered around the room, her hands skimming the tops of the books. "They're not dusty," she said.

"No," he agreed, "There's an anti-dust charm."

"James," she said pulling her eyes away from the books to meet his, "I knew your family was pureblood, but you never said anything about," she made a gesture that encompassed the entire house, "All of this."

James dropped his gaze. Sure, he'd been an arrogant prat for most of his school career, but he'd bragged about _his_ accomplishments, not his families. "Oh, I don't know, it's just where I live. My whole family lives like this, so it was normal to me and when I found out it wasn't, well...normal, I was rather embarrassed really, so I never talked about it."

Lily nodded, "I guess I see, but it seems pretty impossible that you could think this was normal."

"It grows on you," he told her.

"You grew on me," Lily said, putting her arms around his neck.

He smiled at her, "I love you."

"I love you too."

They stood there, just holding each other for a few minutes in silence and James took the opportunity to listen to her heart beat. It sounded to him like their hearts were in sync.

Then Lily broke the quiet, "Haven't you always wanted to make out in the library?"

"Ummm...no," he said laughing, "But if you want to, we most certainly can. No one _ever_ uses the charms section, so we could try there."

"Hey! I use the charms section."

"I know," he said, kissing her gently.

"Cough...hehm...hehm."

James pulled away from Lily and turned around to see that his dad was standing in the doorway, trying to suppress a grin.

"Better not let Edna catch you at that unless you want her sitting outside Ms. Evans door with knitting needles all night."

James put on his most innocent face, "But, sir, she forced me to."

Lily slapped his arm, feigning outrage.

"She's a temptress; how's a man supposed to resist?"

His dad laughed, "You'll just have to suck it up James. I have faith in you...or at least I have faith you can find a nice unused room..." he trailed off thoughtfully.

James smiled at Lily who was quietly laughing, her eyes dancing. "Did you need us for something?"

"Ah, well, your mother was worried that, judging from the size of Ms. Evans bag, she didn't bring a dress for New Years."

Lily turned and looked at him, "Dress?"

"Shit," he groaned, "I completely forgot to tell you. I was so happy you were coming at all I just...I'm sorry...I can fix this though. We can go shopping and find a dress."

Lily looked unsure.

"Don't worry; it'll be on me. Since it is my fault you didn't bring a dress."

"No, no, that's ok, James. I was just thinking that shopping probably wasn't your thing. I could just go by myself."

"Don't be silly," James said, "I would love to drag you into dress shops and make you try on sexy dresses."

"Actually," his father interjected, "Krista wants to take her. Since Boy's Day is tomorrow, Lily would need something to do anyway..."

"That's a great idea! Mom's the best shopper ever. If she weren't such a great counselor, she could probably make her living at it."

"Yes, I'm sure she could," his dad said, grinning fondly. "Well, it's about time for the annual swim. Maybe you could show Lily to her room and get her to put her suit on."

Lily didn't even say anything, she just looked at him.

"Oops."

"Your mother expected as much," Mr. Potter said ruefully, throwing her a suit. "It should be about the right size, but James can always transfigure it a bit."

"Thanks," Lily said, eyeing the skimpy two piece his dad had thrown at her with apparent suspicion.

James grinned, "Tell Aunt Mary thanks."

"Yes, we all voted to borrow one of her bathing suits. We figured you'd appreciate the effort. I'll just leave you guys to it then. Try not to get into too much trouble."

"Thanks Dad," James called after him. "I guess we better go," he said to Lily.

Lily was quiet as they walked down the halls, her hand tucked in his, they soon reached his room. Lily would be staying in the room across from his. If his relatives had known he was bringing home a girl, they probably would have arranged things differently, but it was too late now. He'd just have to suffer. Darn.

Opening the door to her room, he led her in. "Well, here we are. My room's right across the hall, so if you ever need anything just come on over and ask. After you get dressed you can come over and get me."

Noting the overwhelmed sort of look on Lily's face he asked, "Is everything all right?"

"No."

He waited for her to continue, she didn't.

"So what's not ok?"

"I can't wear this," she said, flipping the bathing suit into his face.

"Why not?"

"Look at me, James, and don't say 'oh, you're perfect' because we both know that's a lie!" Lily started crying, leaving James feeling helpless. To him, she was perfect.

"Lily," he said, reaching out to take her in his arms. She flinched back as though his touch would burn her. "Lily, you don't have to wear the bathing suit if you don't want to; we don't even have to go swimming."

"You don't understand, James!" That was the understatement of the century.

"Please," she whispered, "Just leave."

"No, Lily, not when you're hurting like this."

She looked at him, her eyes already red and tear tracks marring her face; he felt as if his breath had been snatched away. She looked beautiful, shining; he had to try and tell her.

"You are," he said, pulling her reluctant hand into his, "The most beautiful, intoxicating, fun, amazing woman I've ever met and it's not a wonder I can't stop thinking about you. I know something's bothering you, just tell me what it is; let me help."

She looked at him for a moment. "I'll put the damn suit on," she said, snatching it from where it had landed on the floor and stalking to the bathroom, leaving James trying to stutter out a reply.

James wasn't sure that her giving in was a good thing. When they fought at least he knew where she stood, but now he still had no idea what was bothering her. He was completely hopeless when it came to figuring out women, but it was pretty obvious that Lily didn't have a great opinion of her body and he had no idea how to fix that.

Sighing, he went to his room and put on his swim trunks (no speedos, I know you're disappointed). Lily knocked quietly on his door a few minutes later.

"Come in."

She had a huge t-shirt, one that looked suspiciously similar to one he'd 'lost' a few months ago, on.

"That looks familiar," he said, grinning as she blushed. Pulling her into his arms, he wondered what they were going to do about these crying fits. Then he was hit with inspiration, "Lils, how about after dinner we sit up in the small library and talk?"She nodded, good, that was settled.

Swimming at Christmas was a Potter family tradition that had started when his grandfather had pushed his grandmother in the pool as a joke. When they reached the pool, most of his relatives had already jumped in and jumped out. Probably the only reason they bothered with it at all was that it was James' favorite tradition. Really though, swimming at Christmas, is that not awesome? Now the adults were lounging on lawn chairs next to the windows, looking out at the quickly darkening sky. They spotted James and Lily and they all waved.

"Jump in," Aunt Mary called; she was in another of her bikinis with Uncle Joe wrapped around her waist.

Joe smiled at Lily, "Didn't like the bathing suit?"

"Oh, no, it's fine," she said, fidgeting uncomfortably in the baggy shirt.

Now standing on the edge of the pool, James felt his entire family watching him. He knew what he was supposed to do; the first time you brought your girlfriend, finance, wife, or whatever, to Christmas you were supposed to push them in the pool. Only if you were serious about the girl, of course. His sane side knew that Lily would kill him if he tried to throw her into the pool, but he ignored it. He wrapped his hands around her waist and picked her up.

"No!" She cried, but it was too late; he'd already let go.

She came to the surface of the water looking adorable, sputtering water, trying to look crossly at him and at the same time get the hair out of her face. He was more painfully aware now than ever of his family watching him.

Lily scowled, "Well Mister I-Throw-My-Girlfriend-Into-The-Pool-For-Fun, aren't you going to help me out?" She held out her hand to him.

Grasping it firmly in his, he knew instantly that he'd made a mistake. There was an unmistakable gleam in Lily's gorgeous eyes that said, 'I've got you now.' He felt her tug his hand and he lost his balance, teetering toward the pool. Then he crashed in beside Lily. Pushing to the surface, he glared at her. She grinned. His relatives clapped.

"I can't believe you pulled me in," he said.

"I can't believe you threw me in," she replied, backing up as he moved toward her until her back was up against the wall.

James was maybe a 2 feet away from her when he stopped. "You're mine," he whispered.

"Only if you catch me," she said impishly and dove under the water.

So they were off chasing each other around the pool. Finally, exhausted, they gave up. James helped her out of the pool and over to where his family all sat smiling and talking. Lily started tugging off his baggy waterlogged shirt while he pulled up the only remaining chair for them to share.

When he turned to look at her, he froze. Now, the casual observer would have said he was captivated by the sight of Lily in a bikini, which admittedly was a rather nice sight, but what had caught his attention was her back as she bent over the small railing hanging his former shirt to dry. The scars on her back stood out, fiercely red against her pale skin. He shot a glance at his family; they hadn't noticed yet.

He started toward her, grabbing a towel, and he was almost there when his Aunt Reese, in her usual tactless style, cried, "Dear Lord, poor girl, what _have_ you done to your back?!?"

Lily froze like a deer in the headlights and then whipped around hands going behind her in an effort to hide the scars. James dropped his stealth and ran to her side throwing the towel over her shoulders, but it was too late everyone; had seen.

James' mother said in her matter of fact counselors voice, "Those are whip marks."

Lily looked positively frightened. Her hands were gripping frantically at the towel. James put his hands on her back, wishing that they could both be far away. He didn't know what to do. Should he drag her out of here? What would he tell his parents?

"You should let me look at those dear, I'm very good with scars," his Aunt Marie, the healer, said. Lily didn't respond, she just shifted closer to James.

"Would you?" James responded eagerly for her. "I would feel a lot better if you looked at them."

"Of course I will dear," she said, standing up. "It won't hurt at all, sweetie, I'm just going to look at them," she reassured Lily as she placed her hands on Lily's shoulders and spun her around, pulling the towel off.

Lily buried her face in James' chest, and he gently stroked his fingers over her wet hair.

Aunt Marie hissed in astonishment, "These haven't been seen by a healer, have they?"

James shook his head. All of his relatives were trying hard not to look, but they couldn't seem to help themselves.

Marie put the towel back over Lily's shoulders, "Why don't we go upstairs to your room so I can work on these?" Lily nodded hesitantly.

James made to follow them as the left, but Aunt Marie stopped him, "I'll come get you when I'm done."

Now what was he supposed to do. He sighed, turning around tiredly and rubbing his eyes. Could this day get any worse? Not that it started out badly though, he thought of Lily's devilish grin and Sirius' pink hair. It was hard to believe that this was the same day. It seemed so impossible that the strong, sexy, tempting woman he'd made out with on the train was the same scared, hurt, shivering one that he'd held in his arms moments ago.

"How did it happen, James?"

James jerked his head up; he'd forgotten that he was surrounded by his family.

He sighed, "Voldemort." That was all he needed to say; they understood.

"She's muggleborn?"

"Yes."

"So it was just for entertainment?"

He saw what they were getting at. The Potter family was in danger as it was for their stance against Voldemort; they didn't need to take in another person who had angered him. It would put James in danger, but he didn't care about that.

"Apparently she angered him some how,;I've never really gotten the details," He said addressing their fears and confirming them.

"James," his mother who moved from her seat and pulled him into her arms. She brushed her fingers gently through his hair, rocking him in her arms.

His Aunt Edna wasn't as gentle, "How could you invite her here? A mudblood isn't worth the risk. Find yourself a decent girl and bring her home, not some walking death notice."

James stared at her for a few seconds and then vented his frustration, his helplessness, "How dare you call her that!" He cried, pulling from his mothers arms, "How dare you presume to judge her! You don't know her at all. She's worth 10 times any pureblood! I've been in love with her since 5th year; how can you tell me she's not worth it? How can you even pretend to understand? Do you think she wanted me to love her? Because that's not true. In fact, she was so scared of hurting me, she tried to end our friendship. I had to beg her to even look at me. I had to convince her that whether we were together or not, I would still love her and die for her. And now you tell me that it was 'worthless'. That the most amazing woman I've ever met, who I can picture spending the rest of my life with, isn't worth the risk of loving. That the possibility of marrying her and having children with her isn't worth it. Well, you know what? It _is_ worth it. She's worth that and so much more. But if you can't see that, fine. I have no problem taking Lily back to Hogwarts and spending Christmas with her there." James finally stopped, practically frothing with emotion.

"Nonsense," his mother said, "If Edna has a problem with Lily, _she_ will spend Christmas elsewhere."

His dad stood up joining the action for the first time; as the patriarch of the family what he said would go. "Come on, boy," he said, walking toward the door.

James hesitated. What was going on? This wasn't the judgment he'd expected that would end the argument one way or another.

His dad turned around and looked at him, "Well, are you coming?"

"Where?"

"I assume we'll be needing to chat about defensive spells and such for Ms. Evans, and really, the sooner we get started, the more likely that we'll be able to finish them and use them as her Christmas presents."

----

Thank you to all of my reviewers! I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint.

I'll answer questions/comments from chapter 8 next chapter because I don't have time right now.

Daystar: happy turkey day


	10. In which Lily fights with James

It's not mine; it's J.K. Rowling's.

Chapter 10: In which Lily Talks to the House/Illusion/Ghosty Thingy

Or

In which Lily Fights with James

Lily woke up, feeling like she had eaten her pillow while she slept. Her whole body was sore; she gingerly moved a hand to her back, tensing as she felt the tender skin. Dragging her aching body out of bed, she stumbled into the bathroom and used the mirror to check out her back. All that was left of the nasty red scars were thin white lines. It was definitely a lot nicer. After getting dressed, Lily felt a lot better; she stuck her head out into the hall and checked for movement. She didn't see any of James' family, so she raced across the hall and dove into James' room. Damn. She'd found the family, or at least the female half of it, none of the men were there except James.

"Hi..." she said slowly.

"Lily," James grinned, "You're up."

"Yeah," she said, edging back toward the door.

"So, we'll see you at dinner, but it's up to you to keep the boys in line."

"Alright Auntie M, nothing to fear. I'll make sure nothing illegal goes on."

James' mom, Krista, turned to Lily who'd just managed to to turn the door knob and was inching the door open, "Well, we'll let you and James say your good-byes and then we'll meet in the kitchen for our shopping expedition."

All of the women filed out, giving her smiles and winks, leaving her bright red and alone with James.

"I didn't realize they were in here," she told him.

"No problem," he said as he finished buttoning his shirt. He looked very handsome dressed semi-formal.

"Is this how you always dress at home?"  
"No way," he said, laughing, "Today I have to look presentable so the Potter boys can go terrorize the citizenry for their annual day out."

"You look nice," she told him.

He put his hands on her waist, "Well, thank you kindly, ma'am. You look mighty fine as well."

"Ugh ... stop pretending you're a cowboy."

"If you insist," he said pitifully.

She pulled him into a tight hug. "I can never face your relatives again."

"Sure you can. They think you're brilliant."

She leveled a glance at him that said, 'yeah, right'.

"Well, they know I'm not changing my mind about being head over heels in love with you, so they're going to put their best feet forward." She must have looked as skeptical as she felt because he added, "My dad likes you. He wouldn't stop gushing about you last night. He was almost as bad as I am and we both know that that's saying something."

Lily sighed, "Your Aunt Marie is very nice."

"Yeah, how did that go? Does your back feel better?"

"It's a little sore, but you can hardly see the scars anymore."

"That's great. Do you want to move our talk we planned for last night to tonight?"

"Sure."

"Great," he said, leaning down and kissing her gently.

"You look really nice in that shirt, James," she said and grabbed his collar, pulling him back to her for another kiss.

"Alright, alright," he said, pulling back, "I've got to go; otherwise I would love to stay here and let you admire my shirt."

Lily pouted. He kissed her again.

"Ok, I'm leaving. I'll see you tonight." He walked out the door and 5 seconds later came back in and kissed her again.

"I'm really leaving this time." He came back twice more before he just took Lily with him. It was really lucky he had too, since Lily had no clue how she would have found the kitchen otherwise.

"Here you are, safe and sound," he said, ushering her into the kitchen which was once again packed to the gills with family.

But something was wrong; they were all crying.

"Dad?" James said confused.

"There's been an attack, son; Edna and Walter are dead."

Lily wasn't sure which ones they were.

"Dead?" James said, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"They were getting too close," Mr. Potter said, his eyes filled with grief, "Voldemort had to get rid of them. They shouldn't have left last night."

"They left because of me," James said, horror flowing over his face. He stumbled backwards and Lily grabbed him, supporting him.

"No, James," Marie said, "It's not your fault."

Lily watched amazed as the whole family pushed away their grief to comfort their son and nephew. Lily kept to the wall while the family cried. Lily mourned with them; she might not have known these two people, but she did know that this kind family didn't deserve this kind of pain. She wondered why James felt it was his fault that Edna and Walter had left. She knew how he must feel. She had felt the way the guilt pulls at you, experienced the pain that racked your bones for months to come as memories of those you lost were triggered. And when you did manage to think about it, it was your fault; it was your fault they were dead; you were nothing more than a murderer. Maybe things would be different for James; she hadn't had anyone to comfort her. He on the other hand had a full family of support that would tell him he wasn't a murderer, that he wasn't to blame.

The crying had lessened a little when she looked up from her reverie.

"Lily," James said, his voice choked with pain. He needed comfort. She went to him and wrapped her arms tightly around his trembling body.

"It's ok, James," she whispered, stroking his hair, "I know right now it feels like it's your fault James, but death isn't something we can control. Evil is outside of your boundaries; you don't have to account for it. You are pure and good, evil will never work through you, James."

Lily's words weren't coming from her anymore, they were coming from a memory. A memory of a woman who'd held her while she cried,thinking herself to be the cause of her parents deaths. Lily's mouth moved forming the words without thought; she only remembered the intense gratitude she'd felt after hearing these words.

To her surprise, James didn't seem to take the words quite as well as she had.

"What do you know about it?" He screamed, rage, uncertainty, and guilt running rampant through his words.

She'd forgotten about the anger phase of the recovery process. She'd taken most of hers out on the death eaters and the decor of her cell (mainly half rotting skeletons; death eaters are awful interior decorators).

"I'm as good as a murderer," he roared, throwing her arms off of him and leaping to his feet. "What do you know about death? You think you know what it's like since you've got a few scars from getting on the wrong side of a death eater. You have no clue what it feels like to lose two people you love. What's the most you've ever lost? A pet goldfish?"

James voice died away in the silent room, his body trembling, unable to control his emotions. Lily knew he would regret what he'd said later, but right now it hurt like hell. And it made her angry.

"I've got news for you, James Tristan Potter!" She yelled. "I've lost more than you ever have. Sure they were your aunt and uncle, I get that, but you've got all of these people who love you to help you through it. When the Dark Lord killed my parents, all he left me was a sister who kicked me out of the house screaming, "murderer," at my back! So don't tell me I don't know what it's like because I know, I know more than I'd ever like too."

She was right up in his face now, angry as hell. She was practically daring him to yell at her, to hit her, to let her vent her anger on him. It took her only a moment to realize that he would never lay so much as a finger on her in anger, not to mention that he didn't seem quite so angry anymore.

"Your parents are dead!?! And you're just telling me now? You didn't think that maybe that would be a fact I'd like to know?" He cried, grabbing her shoulders.

"James, just shut-up," she yelled back, struggling out of James' grip, "I don't want your gods damned sympathy. I can deal on my own and I'm pretty damn good at it. So stay the hell out of my past; it's only filled with death!"

She took in a shuddering breath and voiced the thoughts that had haunted her since she'd gotten here, "This whole thing is wrong! You're way to good for me. Why the hell are you wasting your time on some stupid mudblood? You could have any girl you want and you choose me. Why, James? I'm nothing special. You should find yourself someone else, someone better."

She started crying. "I hate crying," she fumed, angry at her weakness, "All I can seem to do around you is cry. I'm sick of it. You can bring my stuff back with you at the end of break."

She turned and stormed out. She took a turn and ended up confused; she took a few more turns and ended up completely lost.

Frustrated, she screamed, "Damn house!" At the top of her lungs.

Behind her she heard a soft voice say, "Being large has its advantages and its disadvantages, I'll agree with you there."

Lily spun around to see a shimmering ghostly shape of a woman. "Are you a ghost?"

"No, not really. I'm more like an embodiment of this house. I've just been here for so long I became real. Although it's not every day that I bother to talk to people."

"Really?" Lily said, intrigued in spite of herself.

"Yes, well, I figured that you might want to hear about what's happening in the kitchen."

"No, not really," Lily said, "I'm more interested in finding a way out of this death trap." Realizing the insult in her words, she hastily added, "Not that it isn't a very nice death trap."

"Oh that doesn't bother me dear, but if you're sure you're not interested in the fact James is currently demolishing plates in the kitchen, trying to convince himself he really doesn't want to run after you, that's fine."

"He's what?"

"Throwing plates at the walls. I was starting to think he was going to run out, but his mother kicked everyone else out of the kitchen and started repairing them for him. Sensible woman Krista, probably doesn't want him at the glasses."

Lily couldn't help nodding in agreement; they were very nice glasses. "Why doesn't he want to come after me?"

"Well, sweetheart, he's not very lucid at the moment, but I gather he thinks that you hate him and he doesn't want to have you say that to his face."

"I don't hate him."

"I know dear, but men's minds are odd places. I doubt I'll ever be able to understand them."

Lily thought over what the house had said. "I'm not really angry at him, I guess. I know that he didn't really mean it. Hell, I know exactly how much pain he's in right now and it's awful. It's just that he hurt me a little. I need some time to heal."

"I'm sure he'd be glad to help you heal if you asked."

Lily didn't respond.

"He didn't know about your parents?"

"No, I never told anyone. I think my friend Ally suspected it, but she never asked."

"It's hard keeping things like that to yourself."

"I know. I just didn't want to think about it, much less talk about it. You know it's odd really," Lily said with a small laugh at herself, "James knows more about me than anyone else and that's because he gets me so angry at him I'll yell out any old secret to prove him wrong."

"Love has that affect on people."

"Love," Lily said, "Is that what this feeling is?"

The illusion bobbed her head, "You should go talk to him."

"I don't know."

"I wish you would. He's getting rather frustrated with the china and is eyeing the cutlery drawer in a rather unnerving fashion."

"I guess I could go," Lily mused, "I mean, it would be really bad for you if he started on the knives and I couldn't let that happen to a new friend."

"If you want to think about it that way you can dear, although I must say it's really quite an uninspired justification. Couldn't you have come up with something a little more creative?"

"I've left my coat?"

"That's really not any better."

Lily grinned, "How about 'I'm in love'?"

"Oh, that's my favorite. I'd stick with that one."

"How do I get back to the kitchen?"

"Well, there's the way you came ... or you could go the easy way."

"I'll take the easy way please."

A door popped open out of the wall.

"That will take you right to the kitchen dear."

"Aren't' you coming?"

"No, I don't really talk to many people. I prefer it on my own."

"Will I see you again?"

"Just call dear, I'm everywhere."

Lily started toward the door and then stopped, "Do you have a name?"

"A name? No I don't believe I do."

"Oh, well I was wondering, since you're everywhere and all, do you know why James is blaming himself for Edna and Walter's deaths?"

The illusion shifted, looking uncomfortable, "Edna said something inappropriate about you and James blew up at her. After he left, it wasn't much of a surprise that the rest of the family asked her to leave so James' temper could cool off. Of course Walter went with her... and you know the rest."

"So it's really my fault then," Lily whispered, her entire mind swirling into a vortex of guilt and self-loathing.

"No, it's not. It's that no good You-Know-Who's fault. He's just trying to turn us against each other and against ourselves; we just have to resist and remain strong. If we do that then he'll have no power over us."

Lily was flashed back once again to the cell she'd languished in over the summer...

"You know, kiddo, not everyone in the world is bad or good; sometimes you get a mix."

Lily shrugged non-committally, trying to ignore her older cell mate's stab at starting a conversation. She'd been at it since Lily had woken up 4 hours ago and it was beginning to get annoying. Lily just wanted to feel sorry for herself, with NO interruptions.

"So he killed your parents?"

Again Lily didn't answer.

"Muggles, I assume?... It's hard to deal with things like that, but you don't have to let it consume you. You don't have to die here."

Lily couldn't help but respond to that, "The only way out of the lovely impenetrable Baramore, fortress of the Dark Lord, is in a body bag."

"Not quite."

Lily looked at the woman piercingly.

"My husband built Baramore for Tom - he wasn't Voldemort then - that's why I'm here. I'm the only living person who may possibly know the secret ways into and out of the fortress."

"If you know the way out, why didn't the Dark Lord kill you?"

"He knew my husband; didn't have the heart, I expect. Now, of course, he wouldn't hesitate, but I was one of his first prisoners; he was just beginning to go evil then. Besides, if I really did know about any secret passage ways, I would have talked during torture long ago."

"Oh," Lily said disheartened.

"If there was a way out what would you have to go back to?"

"Nothing," Lily said bitterly, "Everyone I ever loved is dead."

"No husband, boyfriend..."

"I'm only 17."

"So?"

Lily shrugged.

"Well, any regrets then?"

Lily froze at that. She did have one regret and it was a big one. "There's this boy..."

"Go on."

"And we fight a lot, but it's kind of a joke."

The woman gestured for her to continue.

"And when we fight, I always insult his hair. You know, something like, 'didn't your mother show you what a comb was' or 'what's nesting in your hair today' because it's always ruffled and never lies flat."

"So you regret being mean to him?"

"Hell no, he is ... he was a prat."

"Why do you say was?"

"He changed."

"Ah ... so what do you regret then."

"It's kind of hard to explain, but if you could see him you'd completely understand because he has certifiably the sexiest hair I've ever seen. It's just gorgeous and it always looks so wind-swept and adorable, and it's enough to make any girl keel over. I'm just sorry I never went up to him and said, 'You have the sexiest hair I've ever seen; can I run my fingers through it?'"

"That's a damn good regret."

"I know. Can you imagine the look on his face?" Lily actually smiled at the thought of James' startled expression. "I bet it feels really nice, too."

"You can't beat sexy wind-swept hair."

"I know," Lily said miserably, cursing herself for never actually saying that to James when she'd had the chance.

"That sounds like a good reason to get out of here to me."

Lily looked at the woman; so they were back to the 'escape' mind track again. What a laugh. "If there's a way out, why don't you use it?"

"Can't."

"Why not?"

"It's in Tom's bedroom, and you have to be pretty damn enticing to get in there, sweetie."

Lily stared at her cell mate, open mouthed, "There's seriously a way out?"

"You bet. And for a girl like you," she said, eyeing Lily's figure that was shown off quite well by the tight tank top her mother had shoved her into the day of the attack, "It might even be an option. The question is, are you willing to risk death, mayhem, rape, destruction, and pretty much eternal damnation to get back to your boy and tell him about his sexy hair?"

Lily thought about it over the next day. Her first instinct said, 'screw it, what's the point.' But then she thought of James' face and the look he'd get when she walked up to him out of the blue and announced to the world he had sexy hair. She was going to die anyway, why not go her way? She kept thinking while she scarfed down her meager rations, while death eaters leered at her and beat her cell mate, and then while they beat her; finally she came to a decision.

She was getting out of here; eternal damnation be damned.

Lily was flung out of the memory and back to the present and the house who was anxiously inquiring if she felt alright.

"Yes, yes, no," Lily replied.

"Oh, it's one of _those_ things, huh?"

"Yeah, it's just ... I completely forgot ... I concentrated so hard on the goal of getting out I forgot what inspired me to get out in the first place. I never told him ... I can't believe I never told him ... I can't believe I forgot." Lily snapped her attention back to the illusion, "I have to tell him!"

"Of course you do, but you should talk to James first, dear."

"You're right, it's James I have to talk to," Lily said decisively, setting off down the corridor in the wall.

"I'll see you later," the house called after her, but when Lily turned to wave to the illusion, it was already gone.

Lily continued down the passage, which was lit with phosphorescent moss shining from the walls, until she reached the end, which was a door. She groped for the handle in the dim light. Turning it, the door opened into the warmly lit kitchen, and Lily screamed.

------

Thanks for all of the reviews!!

I don't know when the next chapter will be up, but it's coming. And just in case you're panicking, I know I do, I am going to finish this story. I'm not going until James and Lily's deaths or anything, but there's going to be closure, I'm not going to leave you hanging.

**Daystar** - I'm on page 114!

**Katalina** - I'll never let the IB teachers bring me down! Ever! Except for every day that ends in 'y'. You can hold me to that.

**Farmer-girl-indy**: glad you liked the family list

**JamesLvr4eva**: I'm not in 8th grade actually, that was a while ago. I'm in 11th right now.

**sumrandumperson**: she isn't his first girlfriend, she's just the first he's brought home

**Prongs312**: Alright, so you're hannah and hannah's you. I'll try to remember, but if I forget you'll just have to develop multiple personalities and deal with it

**Desi-Siriuslovesyou:** sorry about the freakishly similar to your boyfriend thing, wasn't intentional, I hope there aren't any copyright infringements there. hehe

Thank you all so much: **crzazyladay, DK LILI, Lille katt, siriusforeva, seven salted french fries, katie, Desi-Siriuslovesyou, spunky melon, kat**


	11. In which James meets another fish

It's not mine; it's J.K. Rowling's.

Chapter 11: In Which James Goes Shopping

Or

In Which James Meets Another Fish

James let out a cry of frustration and rage and flung another newly repaired plate at the wall.

"Why did I say that? Why didn't I know? Why the hell didn't she tell me? Why didn't I ask her? Have I not asked her how her family was in the past few months? What kind of worthless boyfriend am I? I didn't even ask how her family was. I'm an awful, ugly, prattish, senseless, stupid git! She was just trying to comfort me and I yelled at her. How could I not have realized she was feeling overwhelmed by my family? I never thought she thought she wasn't good enough for me. It never even occurred to me, she's so perfect, how could she feel that way? She must hate me. I ... I need her ... what am I going to do? What am I doing, still standing here?"

He looked to his mother actually expecting an answer to his final question.

"Throwing plates," his mother said sensibly and offered James a newly repaired plate for him to throw.

He took it, spinning it in his hands; it was his mothers best plate, "It's not my fault they're dead; Lily was right."

"She was," his mother agreed.

"Why was I mad?"

"You were more frustrated than mad, and you probably felt a little helpless."

"I should go after her."

"You should."

"Alright, I'll just grab my cloak and go find her and talk to her and then get her to come back."

"That sounds like a good plan."

James chucked the last plate half-heartedly at the wall.

He froze in horror as the rarely used door in the kitchen wall opened and Lily popped out.

The plate was heading right toward her.

She screamed and raised her hands as if to protect herself.

"Lily!" He cried, stretching out a hand as if he could stop the plate.

Then, to his surprise, it did stop. It stopped right in front of Lily's face, then dropped to the floor as a fish bowl with a very surprised looking goldfish in it.

He looked at his mother, expecting to see her wand pointed at the fish bowl, but instead she was staring open-mouthed at Lily, her wand by her side.

She smartly closed her mouth after a few seconds, "It's a strong bond between two people that can transfigure an object like that."

James didn't know what his mother was talking about, but he decided to be confused later. He raced to Lily's side and tried to control his desperate urge to run his fingers over her smooth skin to make sure she hadn't been hurt. But seeing as she hated him, his hands compromised by fluttering over her sides, not touching her, but hovering until he reached her face.

"Are you alright?" He whispered, gently cradling her cheeks with his hands and leaning his forehead on hers.

She responded by wrapping her arms around him and pulling his closer to her.

He felt the world spin around him as she pressed her lips to his. Maybe she didn't hate him after all. When the kiss ended, he tucked her head under his chin, rocking them back and forth, eyes closed.

"Merlin, Lily, I thought that plate was going to hit you."

"So did I."

"I'm just glad it didn't," he said with a sigh, "I don't know what it is with me and fish lately, though."

"I think fish are nice," she murmured.

"You don't hate me, do you?" James asked, his voice filled with trepidation.

"Of course not, silly. Why would I have come back if I hate you?"

"I don't know. You could have left your coat."

"Or maybe I'm in love."

"Maybe we both are," he said.

"Gods, that is so sweet! I remember when you used to say things like that all of the time, Andrew," his Aunt Reese said in her brash voice.

His mother had apparently decided to let the rest of his family back into the kitchen. James shook his head in amusement as Uncle Andrew got down on his knees and started proclaiming his love for Reese. His other aunts and uncles were laughing amid their sorrow at the pair's antics.

"Even in the worst of times there's so much hope for the future," Aunt Lauren said softly, tucking her graying blonde hair behind her ears. "James, you are our future and we are so happy that you have found someone to love."

"Indeed, it is a very special bond you two share," his mother said quietly.

"Bond?" His dad asked.

"They used it to transfigure a plate into a fish bowl," she said, gesturing at the now greenish fish that was happily changing hues in the fish bowl.

"That was a bond?" James asked.

"What else could it have been, dear? Unless you both keep connectors with you, the only explanation is that you've given your hearts to each other."

There was a silence as everyone thought over that.

Then Lily burst out with, "Damn it! I almost forgot again!"

James looked at her surprised.

"Well, you see, I'd forgotten, and then I remembered, and then I nearly forgot again, and I do want to remember because it was such an inspiration and it's so true! Besides the woman's probably dead and I told her I would do it and if I don't, she could come back to haunt me. And I don't want that, do I?" Lily finally trailed off, eyeing him as though she actually expected an answer to her question.

"I have no clue what you're talking about, Lils."

"Of course you have no clue what I'm talking about! I haven't even told you yet!" She said, throwing her hands up into the air in a frustrated manner. James hoped she wasn't angry at him.

"If I had told you and you knew, we wouldn't be having this conversation at all, would we?"

James just nodded.

"That's right, if you knew that I'd promised what's-her-face that I would tell you that I thought you had sexy hair and I wanted to run my fingers through it, then I wouldn't have to be worried about forgetting to tell you again and then being haunted and all of those sort of awful things..."

James cut her off, "You think my hair's sexy?"

"How did you know?" She cried, looking scandalized. "Who told you? How did they know? I didn't tell anyone, well except that lady, but I figure she's dead, so if she told you, then she's a ghost and the possibility of being haunted just went up about 500 and..."

"Lily," James said, interrupting her again, "You told me."

"I did?" She said, whipping her head toward him.

"You just said, 'I think your hair is sexy and I want to run my fingers through it'."

"I did? I did!" She exclaimed, looking happy, "So can I?"

"What?"

"Run my fingers through it."

James laughed along with the rest of his family and Lily blushed she'd probably forgotten that everyone else was here. She did that occasionally when she got really focused on something.

"My hair is yours alone sweet lady," James proclaimed, going for the cliched gentleman look.

Lily laughed and ran her fingers through his hair a few times, then threw her arms around his neck and gave him a huge hug. Her next targets were his parents who gladly returned the hugs.

All to soon, it was over and everyone was back to the somber moods that befitted a family who had just lost two important members.

"We all need to go change into mourning clothes," his Aunt Mary said.

Everyone nodded and began to drift from the kitchen.

"James, dear," his mother said, "It seems that I won't be able to take Lily shopping after all, perhaps you could take her?"

"Sure," James said and left Lily in the kitchen while he went to change into black dockers and a black button down shirt. It made a lot of sense for James to be the one to go with Lily since it was more socially acceptable (and expected) that young people would bounce back from tragedy in fairly short order.

The trip to Diagon Alley started off fun; James got to pick out dresses with Lily. His choices were a bit more racy than the ones she picked out, but he knew she'd look stunning in them. It was as the fitting room door closed that the trip took a turn for the worse. She wouldn't come out. Not even once. She was just standing in there, trying on the dresses and announcing her opinion on them (which was always, "I don't really like this one.") without letting him put in his opinion. Or see her in really sexy dresses, but, of course, that was only a minor reason. Finally, she found one she liked and James thought she was going to come out and show him, but when she opened the door, she was back in her normal clothes and had her arms filled with dresses. Then she made him wait in the front of the store so he couldn't see the dress she bought; she wanted it to be a 'surprise.' James grumbled and made a few half-hearted attempts to see what she was buying, but the saleswoman was clearly in league with Lily and he didn't even get a glimpse of the color.

After the dress, Lily dragged him into shop after shop quizzing him on his relatives' likes and dislikes, trying to get presents for all of them. James told her at first she didn't even need to buy them gifts, but the look she gave him was quite enough to convince him that she did need to buy them presents and James should definitely answer any and all questions she had.

As they finished and started heading back to the Leaky Cauldron, it began to snow.

"I was hoping it would snow," Lily said.

"So was I," James agreed, thinking about his wish to push her into a snow bank. "Lils, I've got to do a little shopping on my own," he said, opening the door to the Cauldron for her.

"Oh, ok."

"You can just hang out here. It won't take me more than 20 minutes; I know the bar tender, so I'll get him to keep an eye on you."

"I don't need to be watched like a child, James."

"Actually, I was going to ask him to make sure no one tries to make a move on my girl."

"Oh, high probability of that happening?"

"Darn straight," James agreed, setting off Lily's gorgeous laugh. They reached the bar and James signaled Jenkins, the bar tender.

"Heard about your aunt and uncle," Jenk said, when he came over, "Damn shame."

"Yeah," James said, trying not to really think about it.

"Surprised you're out so early. I would've expected Krista to keep you in at least a day."

"Shopping for Christmas can't be put off, Jenk," he said, gesturing at the bags he and Lily held, "Else all of the stores will be closed."

"Good point ... and who do we have here?" Jenk said, noticing Lily for the first time.

"Lily Evans," she said; both James and Jenk smiled at the soft shy grin she turned on them.

"My girlfriend," James couldn't help but add, possessively swinging his free arm over her shoulders.

"Is that right?" Jenk said, eye brow raised.

"Luckily for me," James grinned, pecking a blushing Lily on the cheek. "I was hoping you could look after her for me while I do my shopping."

"Sure thing, James. I'll keep your Miss Evans from eloping with any unsavory characters."

"It's not her I'm worried about," James said, eyeing Jenk with a look that said, 'and if you even try to get her drunk, I'll kill you.' After all, you could never be to sure what Jenk had up his sleeve.

"Gorgeous, I'll be back in twenty minutes tops, alright?" James said, kissing Lily's cheek.

"Ok, ugly, get a move on," she said, giving him a shove. He smiled at her insult, knowing it really meant she thought he was cute.

He headed out of the cauldron and walked down Diagon Alley, looking for a jewelry store. His dad had told him last night during their talk about protective charms that the ones fixed to objects were usually strongest. The only problem was that you had to keep the object with you constantly, thus James' idea to get her a bracelet or charm to attach the spells to.

He pushed open the door to a neat looking shop next to the dress robe store and walked in. He paced quickly through the store nothing jumping to his attention.

"Looking for anything in particular?" The salesman asked.

"I'm trying to buy a gift for my girlfriend, but I'm not really seeing what I'm looking for," James said, absentmindedly picking through the bracelets.

"You should look at the shipment we just got in; you might see something."

"Alright," James said, heading to the area the salesman had gestured to.

Then he saw it. Tucked behind an elaborate tiara was a necklace of simple gold with a delicate lily charm hanging from it. He picked it up and smiled; it was perfect.

"I'll take this," he told the salesman.

The man nodded and proceeded to take the necklace and wrap it in silence. "This necklace is meant for a special woman," the man said, handing the package to James and taking the money he was holding out, "So make sure you take care of it."

"I will," James said.

He left the store, whistling cheerfully, and headed back to the Cauldron.

Opening the door, James sighed in relief, glad to be out of the thickening snow storm. He stood in the door as he let his eyes adjust to the dimness of the bar. His eyes skimmed to the bar where Jenk was getting someone a drink and then jumped to where Lily was sitting on a bar stool; next, he looked to the tables, and then he froze.

His eyes jumped back to the bar stool where Lily was sitting.

More specifically he was looking at the bar stool where Lily SHOULD have been sitting, because she most certainly wasn't there now that he actually looked.

"Jenk," he said, walking to the bar, "Where's Lily?"

"You're back soon," Jenk said, grinning, "I don't blame you with a girl like that."

"You aren't answering my question, Jenk," James said, fear starting to build in his chest.

"No need to panic; some man she knew showed up and they went to talk. She left her bags here as proof she'd be back," Jenk said, winking, "Not a woman in the world will leave her shopping bags."

"Where'd they go?"

Jenk nodded toward one of the darker corners and James headed straight toward it. Spotting Lily's shiny hair, he sighed in relief. Slowing, he ended up behind Lily, facing the man. The gloom made it hard to distinguish features, but he'd know that hooked nose anywhere.

"Severus," he said with a nod, placing his hands on Lily's shoulders.

Snape looked surprised at James' use of his name. Lily turned, grinning at him.

"Done already?"

"It went faster than I'd figured."

"I was just leaving," Snape said, rising. He bowed to both of them and quickly left the Cauldron.

"What did he have to say?" James asked, curious.

"I don't know; something was bothering him, but he didn't want to talk about it."

James shared a thoughtful look with Lily before saying, "We better get back home. I don't want my parents to worry."

"Ok, let me grab my bags."

James plunked a generous tip on the bar for Jenk and led Lily over to the fireplace. She flooed first and he followed. Back at home the house was abuzz with people extending their condolences to the Potter family. James was immediately pressed into relieving Uncle Matt from the 'grieving line', so he shook hands with people he didn't even know and tried to look appropriately sorrowful (meaning he couldn't really be sorrowful, but he also couldn't be distant). Being appropriately sorrowful was really a lot harder than one would think. Finally Uncle Robert came in and relieved him.

He went to the kitchen and ate a skimpy dinner by himself. His mother walked in as James was putting the dishes away.

"Did you eat enough?"

"Yes, mom."

"You're sure?"

"Positive."

"I went and talked with your Lily."

"Did you? I don't suppose she had anything to say about being considered my property ..."

"I know she's not your property, James," his mom said with an exasperated sigh, "But she really is quite amazing. I couldn't be prouder of you James. I was so worried that you'd bring home some trophy-wife-to-be as your first girlfriend."

"None of those were worth bringing home."

"Well, I'm glad you've realized that. You'll just end up miserable in those relationships."

"I know," he said, leaning back onto the counter and stifling a yawn.

"Why don't you go upstairs and help her wrap presents for a while?"

"Good idea, thanks, mom."

"I just hope you can do a better job convincing her that she doesn't need presents for the entire family than I did."

"I already tried; it's hopeless."

His mother sighed, "That poor girl has enough to worry about without added worries about Christmas presents."

James nodded, agreeing.

"Well stop lolly-gagging and get moving," his mom said, shooing him out of the kitchen.

"I'm going, I'm going," he said, laughing with her.

Upstairs, James knocked on the door to Lily's room.

"Come in," Lily called.

James opened the door onto mayhem. Wrapping paper, half-wrapped presents, bows, ribbons, tape, and a multitude of other items littered the floor. James walked over to Lily and pulled her up into his arms.

"James, I've got to finish wrapping these presents. I won't have time to do any wrapping tomorrow with the funeral and all. We can snuggle later."

"But Lily," he whined, refusing to let go of her.

"No 'but Lily's'. They're not going to work."

James pouted.

She sighed and then grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him into the most mind blowing kiss he'd ever had, except for that one this morning, and that one in the hallway, and the one in the dorm, and you couldn't forget the one in the circular room and, ok, maybe Lily was just plain mind blowing.

"That was nice," he said dazedly when she pulled away.

"Now I have to wrap," she started to sit down again, but he caught her arm and pulled her back to him, kissing her softly. After a few more kisses James let her go back to wrapping. Soon his dad stuck his head in the room and announced that James had better high tail it back to his own room before one of his more propriety oriented relatives discovered him.

As James slipped into bed that night he couldn't help but wonder at the world. He thought of Aunt Edna and Uncle Walter. Walter had been the 3rd son in the Potter family and really the least liked. He hadn't gotten a trace of the Potter charm. It made James sick with himself when he realized that if he'd had to pick 2 relatives to lose it would have been Walter and Edna. Walter had never done anything to deserve that judgment, neither had Edna for that matter even though he hated her obsession with pure blood. He knew he wasn't the only one who felt that way; he could see it in the rest of the family, in the guilt that they tried to hide.

He rolled over and punched his pillow. How could he be so selfish? The funeral would be tomorrow, Christmas Eve; would he even feel sad about their deaths then? All he had to do was look at Lily and he forgot them. One look at into her eyes drove all of his thoughts away, leaving him giddy and breathless. She seemed to have that effect on everyone. He smiled, remembering his mother's laugh as she talked about Lily, Uncle Robert's worry about finding Lily something to wear to the funeral, Aunt Reese and Uncle Andrew smiling at young love; how could anyone live without her?

------

Sorry it's taken me so long to get this up, but school's been awful lately. Now that I'm on break I should have plenty of time to type things up, but, alas, there will be no internet access to post anything, so I won't be able to update again until after Christmas.

Thanks everyone for reviewing, I would write personal responses, but I haven't packed yet (or wrapped any presents) and we're leaving soon.

I hope everyone has a great Christmas!

Daystar - No more Biology for 16 days!!!! I'm the happiest girl ever. Try not to eat too much candy.


	12. In which Lily gathers holly

It's not mine; it's all J.K. Rowling's.

Chapter 12: In Which Lily Has a Tiny, Tad Bit of a Mishap With Pouncing

Or

In Which Lily Gathers Holly

Lily threw the present she was half-way through wrapping at the clock, which had just chimed midnight. She groaned, putting her head in her hands. She was so tired, but she had to finish wrapping tonight because she probably wouldn't have time to do it tomorrow after the funeral. She was almost finished. She got up and retrieved the thrown present. She taped the final bit of wrapping paper into place, slapped a bow on it and tossed it into the pile of finished gifts. She surveyed the presents and pulled out the checklist she'd made.

5 Aunts - check

5 Uncles - check

Krista Potter - check

Tristan Potter - check

That was everyone! She could finally go to bed. She pulled on her favorite pair of sweatpants and a tank top, sighing happily at the thought of sleep. She had just pulled back the covers on her bed when it hit her.

James ... James Potter ... as in the James Potter she hadn't gotten a gift for.

Holy Shit!!!! What was she going to do?!? Ok, the key was not to panic. She stared out the window, desperately trying to think of something. She suddenly remembered him saying once that he loved the smell of Christmas. He'd said it back when she'd thought she hated him, so she'd laughed and told him Christmas didn't have a smell, but in truth she knew exactly what he was talking about. The smell was indescribable, like Christmas trees and ginger bread men, but with many other things thrown in.

She had it, she could make him one of those popcorn cranberry chains, they smelled like Christmas to her. Grabbing her wand she concentrated and with a graceful flick, managed to produce a bowl of popcorn (which was rather off color, but close enough) and a bag of cranberries (whose shapes were a bit off, but again, close enough; she wasn't a brilliant hand at Transfiguration). With another wave of her wand, she produced a thread and the popcorn and cranberries began stringing themselves. That wasn't too bad, James would probably think she was really cheap, but it should be the thought that counted, right? She looked at the growing string of red and white and knew it needed something, but what?

"Holly," she said out loud. Holly would be perfect. The green would make it Christmas colors. She closed her eyes and pictured the holly in her head, waving her wand. She opened her eyes to see a jumbled brown bunch of twigs.

Damn, her Transfiguration skills had to choose this moment to give out, didn't they? She closed her eyes and tried again. No luck. She groaned and picked up the mess of brown twigs and brought them over to the window, intending to throw them out when she saw it. Or, more specifically, them, a whole row of lush snow covered holly bushes clustered around a statue maybe 100 feet from her window. It was perfect, but how could she get out there? She had no clue how to find a door outside and even if she did, how would she ever find her way back to her room? James should seriously have a map made of this place.

She closed her eyes, picturing the walls she'd seen when she'd arrived; they were brick, old brick, and would probably provide many footholds. She was practically a monkey from taking so many years of gymnastics, or as James liked to call them gymnavtics; she could climb down the wall.

Probably.

Maybe.

Hopefully.

Besides, what was the worst that could happen? She could get trapped outside and freeze to death. That wasn't too bad ... sort of.

Lily tugged a baggy sweat shirt over her head and slung the boots that Krista had loaned her over her neck. There was no way she'd be able to climb down with the boots on; she wouldn't be able to get her feet in the footholds since the boots were so large. She moved to the window and turned the creaky lock on the window. Prying the window open, she shivered as the freezing air enveloped her.

She was insane ... insanely in love with a man she didn't have a Christmas present for.

With that thought she swung her legs out of the window and winced as her bare feet met with the cold brick. She crept down the side of the house, her limbs trembling as her quickly numbing hands and feet sought solid holds. Finally, she dropped into the snow. She quickly shoved her feet in the boots; they didn't really help much. She reached into her pocket to pull out her wand and perform a warming spell and her eyes went wide.

Where was her wand? She looked in her pocket; it wasn't there. She checked all of her other pockets, but it wasn't there. Damn it! What kind of witch was she? She never had her wand when she needed it. She must have left it in the room. Now she was faced with a choice: climb back up and get it or go and get the holly and then climb back up without the security of a wand. She didn't feel too bad; besides she didn't want to climb up and down two times, that would feel like such a waste. So she struggled through the snow to the holly bushes and collected what she needed, cradling the now precious holly sprigs to her body.

As she made the return trip back to the house, she could feel the energy fading from her body. She tried to move faster, but her lethargic muscles weren't cooperating. She felt panic building up in her chest as she reached the wall. She collapsed, leaning against the wall. Tilting her head back she stared up at the now impossible distance to her window; it had grown at least twice as long in her absence (or so it seemed). There was no way she'd be able to scale the sheer wall in the condition she was in; she needed a trellis or some ivy, something easier to climb. In the back of her mind, she could hear a little voice reminding her of what the worst could happen was. Ignoring it, she began a slow journey around the house, fighting her way through every step, looking for anything that could help her.

She shivered violently, nearly loosing her balance. Then she saw it, her salvation, a trellis that went up the wall to a window that was (praise the gods of luck!) cracked open! Hallelujah! Steeling herself, she took off the boots and put the holly sprigs in them. Swinging the boots around her neck, she started to climb.

It was a real pity she didn't know that if she'd gone another 5 yards and turned the corner there was a nice unlocked door there. Real pity.

Lily kept climbing and finally she was there. She was trembling so hard she could barely grab the window. Shoving the last of her strength into her arms she pushed the window open and fell with a thunk into the room. She heard a snort from the bed, but didn't even have the energy to pick herself up and discover whose room she'd fallen into. She lay there for ages, trembling, just trying to regain control of her limbs. She tugged off her sweatshirt and pants after it became apparent that their soaking wet fabric was only making her colder. Taking a deep breath, she managed to push herself to her knees and lean against the wall, hugging herself for warmth. It was then that it hit her like a sledge hammer, in one of those horrible moments of realization: she'd bought James' Christmas present weeks ago, planning to give it to him anonymously, and put it in her keepsake box.

In her keepsake box, which was in James' bag, which was in the house in the room across the hall from hers. A nice heated room.

Piece of shit memory! She banged her head against the wall a few times for good measure and then froze as someone in the bed rolled over in their sleep. She had to get out of here. She was sitting around in her underwear and a tank top in some random relatives of her boyfriends' room. Struggling up, she grabbed her soggy clothes and boots with their precious holly leaves. Well, not so precious anymore, but still this damn well ought to show her undying freezing cold love for James; she deserved girlfriend points (which are suspiciously similar to niffer happy minutes).

Her muscles in her arms spasmed painfully as she pushed the window down. Ugh. The bed sheets rustled and Lily snuck to the door, quietly pushing it open, and went into the dark hallway.

It took her all of 5 seconds to realize that she had no clue which room was hers. So she had yet another choice to make; either she could go and open every door in the hall (assuming her room was on this hall) and try to find her room, or she could go back in and politely ask the rooms' sleeping occupants for directions. She weighed the embarrassment possibilities and practically ran back into the room. She'd much rather have 2 people know about her midnight activities then risk the whole family finding out. She closed the door of the room behind her and crept over to the bed.

It was there that she received her second pleasant surprise of this annoying evening (the first being the cracked window, even if she hadn't been in the right frame of mind to appreciate it at the time), there was only one person in the bed, meaning it was James since everyone else would have had a wife or husband with them. She grinned, happily surveying his dark form lying with his face into the pillow. Now, she could easily have gone back to her room, seeing as it was just across the hall, but she was feeling rather giddy and she had just earned a good deal of girlfriend points; basically meaning that she deserved a kiss.

So she pounced on him.

He woke up cursing, and that's when Lily realized she'd made a mistake. For this certainly wasn't James. Lily felt a moment of mortifying, mind freezing embarrassment as the man called for lights and then she found herself looking at the one, the only, Sirius Black.

Wasn't he supposed to be at Remus'? Why was he here, pretending to be James? How had he gotten the pink hair dye out of his hair? And more importantly, if this wasn't James' room, which it obviously wasn't, then it wasn't across the hall from her room, so where was her room?

"Lily?" Sirius said, looking horror stricken and trying to back up through the head board of his bed.

"I'm sorry," she said, scuttling back so she was more sitting on his knees than his waist. She hadn't realized she looked so horrible.

"Look, Lily, I'm flattered, but you're James' girl and I'm not messing around with my best friend's girlfriend. I mean, he loves you and it would just kill him."

Lily just sat there staring at him open-mouthed. He thought she wanted to cheat on James with _HIM_! Ewwwww!

"Sirius, you don't understand ..." Lily started, but was cut off by an apparently frantic Sirius.

"Please, when you break up with him, don't tell him about this, don't tell him that I'm the reason, he's had girls do that before and I don't want him to have to go through that with someone who means as much to him as you."

"I'm not going to break up with him, Sirius ..." Lily said, and once again was cut off.

"Not break up with him? Listen you're a great girl, but James deserves better than a girl who'll go after his best friend and ... and if you don't break up with him I'm going to have to tell him what happened because I'm not going to let him get hurt."

"Sirius, this is just a misunderstanding," Lily said, crawling forward and placing her hand over his mouth to forestall any further comments, "You are so full of yourself if you think I would even dream of cheating on my extremely handsome and sexy boyfriend with an idiot like you. Oh and of course you have to top it off with the fact that you're my best friends boyfriend."

"Lily ..." he said, looking at her with an uncharacteristic serious expression.

"I just mistook you for James, Sirius."

"So you really mean to be sitting on top of James?"

Lily blushed, remembering she was sitting on top of Sirius, "Yeah."

"Oh, in that case," Sirius said, breaking into his traditional mischievous Black grin. He then leapt up and scooped her into his arms, dragging her, her soggy clothes, and boots off the bed, out of the door, and down the hall. Reaching a door that looked just like all of the other doors in the hall, he pushed it open, lugged her in, and threw her quite unceremoniously on top of the beds occupant, who sat up, sputtering.

Sirius bowed and ran out of the room, grinning gleefully.

"Lily?" James said sleepily, rubbing his eyes. He yawned and yanked the spell chain by his bed. He looked at her and froze, after a few moments he cleared his throat.

"Do I want to know why you're wearing ... or not wearing ... ummm ... well much of anything?"

"I didn't want to freeze to death and my clothes were wet."

"Ahhh," he said, "And Sirius?"

"I rather mistook him for you," Lily said, blushing.

"I see," he said, although he was refusing to look at her.

"Why won't you look at me? I'm sorry, ok! I thought he was you. How was I supposed to know it wasn't my boyfriend I was pouncing on? I mean, come on, it was dark and I thought Sirius had pink hair ... and I actually thought he wasn't here ..."

James was at least looking at her now.

"Pounced?" He said, his voice sounding strangely forced.

"Yeah, pounced," Lily said, blushing full force and playing with a loose thread on James' bed spread.

"I'm not mad at you and you don't need to apologize."

"Oh good," she said, looking up to find that his eyes had a rather disturbed look in them.

"Are you sure you're alright?" She asked.

"Well, no ... but I'm sure I will be."

"James, I'm sorry!" She wailed, starting to cry. She was just having such a bad day. She'd been trying to surprise James and instead he was mad at her

"Hey, stop crying, I'm not mad at you," James said, reaching his hand out to her.

"Then why aren't you ok? Why are you looking at me so funny? What else can I do to apologize?"

"Nothing, Lily. I'm not mad at you. The only reason I'm not ok is that my girlfriend is sitting half naked on my bed and I'm a little preoccupied with the fact that she was planning on pouncing on me because that sounds like a brilliant time to me. So the only thing I'm mad about is that you got the wrong room and really that's my fault since I couldn't find you a map or what not. And I'm sorry if I'm looking at you funny, but maybe I could do a better job if you put on one of my shirts or something. And unless you're interested in apologizing for being incredibly sexy, please ..."

Lily cut him off by pinning him to the bed and kissing him senseless.

"I love you," James said rather bemusedly, as she snuggled into his arms.

"Mmhmmm," her reply was muffled by his shirt. He gently ran his fingers through her hair while she breathed in his wonderful smell.

"Just out of curiosity, why were your clothes wet?"

"I went outside." Lily felt James start to nod, then he stopped.

"Outside! Why were you outside?"

"I needed some holly sprigs for your Christmas present. Although, it was really pointless since I bought your gift ages ago and completely forgot about it."

"Lils," he said, shaking his head, but still grinning.

"Alright, it's back to bed with you," he said a few minutes later.

"I don't want to."

"Come on," he said, pulling her up. She pouted.

"Ah, come on, Lils. I would love to let you stay, but my mother would murder us and that's no way to spend the holidays."

"Being murdered wouldn't be so bad if you're with me."

"You're so silly," he said, and scooped her into his arms, carrying her across the hall. Her room was freezing since she'd left the window open.

"Geez, Lily, why's your window open?"

"How else was I supposed to get back in?" She said, pulling out of his arms and closing the window.

"Wait, you climbed out your window to get outside?"

"Yeah."

"Your second story window?"

"Well, unless we're thinking about two different windows, yes."

"You're a nut," he said, pulling her tightly into his arms, "Why didn't you just use the door?"

"I would have gotten lost and starved to death before I found it."

"You could have gotten killed."

"But I didn't."

He kissed her soundly and then picked her up, plopping her down on her bed.

"Sleep tight, angel," he whispered, pulling the covers over her.

"I love you."

"I love you too," he whispered back, kissing her forehead. Pulling away, he hopped over her still multiplying popcorn cranberry chain and with a chuckle waved off the spell. He looked back at her when he reached the door and she smiled sleepily at him.

"I really like that underwear, Lils; rainbow colored all the way."

Then he was gone and Lily was left to blush herself to death in privacy.

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Thanks for all of the reviews!!

I've almost got the next chapter typed up, so I should be able to update soon. Just to warn you it's complete fluff and has little to no meaning to the rest of the story. (I still like it though).


	13. In which James gets pounced

It's not mine; it's J.K. Rowling's.

Chapter 13: In Which Fluff Abounds and Runs All Over

Or

In Which James Gets Pounced

James slogged through the next day. The funeral had been depressing, but that was to be expected; the food tasted burnt, his mom had tried to gel his hair, the tag in his shirt was scratching his neck, and basically, it had been plain awful. Then he looked over at Lily, who was talking with Sirius, and felt much better. She looked refined and beautiful in the black skirt and top his Uncle Robert had transfigured to fit her. At least this day was almost over. Nearly everyone had left.

He walked over to Lily and slipped his arms around her waist, enjoying the safeness he felt with her so close to him.

"I'm glad you came," James said to Sirius.

"I'm surprised you thought I wouldn't. Your family has always been there for me; I wanted to be here for you guys."

"This isn't the funnest way to spend Christmas Eve though."

"Yeah, but I owe your family far more than a fun Christmas Eve."

James sighed, "You don't owe us anything."

Sirius shook his head, "Some debts can't be overlooked, James." Then he yawned. "Well I'm heading back to Remus' tonight. Tell your mum thanks for letting me crash here last night. It was interesting to say the least," he said, winking at Lily who groaned and leaned her head on James' shoulder. "See you guys!" Sirius said, making his way to the fireplace.

James watched until he disappeared in a gush of greenish flame.

"He's going to use last night to black mail me forever isn't he?" Lily asked.

"Probably, Lils, but I've got enough dirt on him to keep him in check for the time being," James said, kissing her cheek and pulling her more securely into his arms.

"Hey, snuggle bunnies!" His Uncle Charlie called, "It's about time for bed."

"Yes, sir," James said, "I'll get this little ragamuffin to bed," and scooped Lily up in his arms, which sent her sputtering.

"Put me down, James!"

"Nope," he told her, walking out of the room and grinning at his Aunt Mary and Uncle Joe's cat-calls.

"Put me down NOW!" She said, giving him her if-looks-could-kill-you'd-so-be-blown-to-smithereens-by-now look. He considered it, but he had to be strong.

"Nuh-uh," he said, shaking his head.

She smacked his shoulder.

"No need to get physical," he joked, walking up the stairs.

"Fine," she said, giving in and throwing her arms around his neck, "You may carry me tonight, but just tonight."

"What about tomorrow?"

"No."

"Come on, please."

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No."

"Pretty please with a lily on top?"

"That's so cliched."

"But it worked last time."

"That was last time."

"We can argue about it tomorrow night, then," James said, gently setting her on her feet in front of her door, "Now, is there anything you need?"

"No, I don't think so."

"Not even a kiss?" he said, disappointed.

"Well I don't need a kiss, but I'd like one."

"Really?" James said, brightening as he pulled her into his arms, "Well since you'd like one, I think I could arrange ..."

Lily cut him off, pressing her lips to his. He hadn't been expecting that and rather lost his balance, causing them to stumble to the wall. James smiled into their kiss as Lily pushed him flat to the wall and continued to kiss him. After a few minutes, they broke apart and Lily tried to smooth her mussed hair.

"I'll see you in the morning, love," James said, gently touching her cheek.

"Tomorrow is Christmas."

"That it is," James agreed, "Are you set on Christmas presents?"

Her eyes widened and she exclaimed, "Christmas presents!" She took off and ran into his room.

He found her searching around his closet and desperately throwing his clothes all over the floor.

"Whoa, what are you doing, Lils?"

"Your bag, where is it?"

"My bag?" James repeated, confused.

"Where is it? I need to get the box out!"

"Oh," James said, realizing she was talking about his travel bag, "It's under my bed."  
Lily leapt up and hurried over to his bed, getting down on her hands and knees, pulling things out from under his bed. First was his old teddy bear (he'd been wondering where that was), then a folder of old finger paintings from when he was 4; next a small wooden chest, holy shit, that was where he kept all of the hair ties he'd stolen from Lily over the years.

_Oh Gods, please don't let her open it! _He thought. Luckily, she kept right on plowing, pulling out his first year transfiguration notebook and finally his travel bag, which she practically ripped open and turned upside down, spilling out socks, boxers, and her box.

"Thank Merlin!" She said, picking it up and cradling it to her body.

"What's in there?" James asked.

"Your Christmas present."

"What? I don't get the holly you risked your life to get last night?"

"I didn't risk my life; as you can see, I'm perfectly fine."

"No more climbing out windows though."

"Fine, no more."

Lily walked to his window and looked out at the darkened landscape. The nearly full moon lit the snow making it shine like starlight. James went and stood behind her, looking out over her shoulder.

"I was talking to Sirius today."

"What'd he say?" James mummered into her shoulder.

"Oh, he went on and on about Ally. I think he's really in love with her," Lily let out a beautiful laugh, "I never thought I'd see the day Sirius gave up having a different girl every week," she said, turning in his arms, "I never thought I'd see you give that up either."

"I was such an idiot back in fifth year, wasn't I?"

"Yeah, but I still liked you. It annoyed me to no end that I liked one of Hogwarts' bad boys."

"I wasn't that bad, surely," James said, giving her his carefully refined Marauders' innocent face.

"Oh, you were awful, completely hideous ... and utterly gorgeous."

James laughed, "You contradict yourself, fair lady."

"Well aren't fair ladies permitted to contradict themselves?"

"Generally no, but for you, I'm willing to make an exception."

"How kind of you."

"I know. So, did Sirius say anything else?"

"Not really," Lily gave him an impish smile, "For some reason he was reluctant to go into detail about how he convinced Ally to tell him how to remove the pink hair dye."

"I can't imagine why," James said, smirking, "It's a real pity, though; I thought he looked brilliant with pink hair."

"Oh, he also told me about a little prank he and Remus wanted to play when they get back to Hogwarts."

"I haven't heard anything about a prank," James said, confused. Normally the Marauders planned all of their pranks together.

"Well, it sounded like it involved the Slytherins and a good deal of red and gold hair dye."

James looked out the window; he couldn't believe they'd plan a prank without even consulting him about it.

Lily laughed, "Poor James, I'm just pulling your leg. Although, I'm sure if you guys did decide to plan it, it would be a brilliant prank."

"Oh," James said, his face heating. Lily could tell him anything and he'd probably believe her.

"Did you know," Lily said in a tone that indicated she was telling him something extremely important, "That gullible is written on the ceiling?"

James looked up; he didn't see anything. "No, it's not."

Lily leaned against the wall, nearly sobbing with laughter. She sank to the floor still laughing. James slapped his head. He was right; he'd believe absolutely anything she said.

"That was not nice," he told her, kneeling beside her and tickling her sides.

"Ahh, stop, James, stop!" She was laughing so hard she could hardly get the words out.

"Only if you apologize."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

James stopped tickling her and sat back on his heels.

When she finally stopped laughing, she looked at him and said, "That wasn't very nice."

"I could say the same to you."

"You shouldn't have fallen for it," she said, grinning.

"And you should know I'm hopeless when it comes to you."

"I know," she said, smirking. He stood up and offered her his hand, helping her to her feet. Once standing, she reached down and retrieved her small wooden box.

He reached for it as well, but she grabbed it and then danced out of his grasp.

"Bad James," she said, shaking her finger at him.

"Come on, tell me what you got me?"

"Oh no, mister, you'll find out tomorrow."

James pouted, Lily glared. James tried puppy dog eyes, and Lily put her hands on her hips.

"Alright, I'll wait till tomorrow.

She grinned at him, "How about a consolation gift?"

"What kind of consolation gift?"

"Well, it would be a surprise."

"Hmm ... I think a consolation gift sounds nice," James said, pulling her to his side, hoping the gift would be a kiss.

"Ok, go lie down on your bed and close your eyes." James raised his eyebrow suggestively at her.

"Oh, get your mind out of the gutter, James. Although, not too out," she said with a wink.

He smiled and lay down on his bed, closing his eyes, "Alright, now what do I do?"  
"Just keep your eyes closed," Lily said. James could hear the affectionate smile in her voice.

Then she was on top of him. His eyes flicked wide open to see a very content Lily crouched over him like a tiger.

"Practicing your pounce?" James asked, his voice sounding distant to his own ears. His senses were overwhelmed by Lily's closeness.

"Well, you said you wanted me to, didn't you?"

"I did," James said, his hand lovingly tracing her face.

"So how is this for a consolation gift?"

"It's brilliant."

Then she kissed him and he felt like he was drowning in her. He pulled her closer to him, unable to get enough of her sweetness.

Someone loudly slammed his door and they sprang apart, Lily rolling off of him to lay by his side.

James looked guiltily at his dad who was talking to the wall.  
"Well, gee ... must have gone temporarily blind there ... oh well ... Ms. Evans!" He exclaimed like he was seeing her for the first time, "I don't think you're in the right bed."

"Probably not, sir," Lily mumbled.

James stood up and helped Lily off his bed. They both shuffled past his dad to Lily's door.

"Do you have your box?" He asked quietly.

She nodded.

"Alright, goodnight," he whispered, kissing her cheek. He stood there and let her hand slip from his own as she disappeared into her room.

Sighing, James headed back to his own room to face the music.

His dad was sitting at his desk when he walked in. James went and sat on his bed.

"Going to explain?"

James let out a low sigh, "It wasn't what it looked like."

"_Really_?"

"We were just kissing. I ... we wouldn't do anything like that."

"She's very pretty. I had hoped that you saw more in her than that ..."

"Dad, are you listening to me? We were just kissing. I'm not going to disrespect her like that, she's far too special. We aren't going to throw away our first time together for a ... a roll in the hay on Christmas Eve." James congratulated himself; he'd actually managed to explain the whole thing without using the word sex. He completely rocked!

His dad was doing the penetrating glare thing that made you feel like you were standing there naked.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that," his dad said, standing up, "You don't need to worry about what I think James, I just wanted to make sure_ you_ know what you think. After all, women like that ..." he shook his head, "Your mother was just like Lily and she had me spinning in circles before we finally married," he laughed, "Just between you and me, you were born a little less than 9 months after our wedding," his father had opened the door and was about to leave, "And you were born a little late," then he shut the door behind him.

James just sat there open mouthed. Ewwwwwwwwwww!!!!!

He felt like running around and squealing like a girl. No one should have to listen to their dad tell them that their parents had pre-marital sex because James had been pretty darn happy living in blissful ignorance of that fact. Yuck. Maybe he could get his Uncle Charlie to do a memory charm on him. Whoa, hold on, rewind, did his dad pretty much tell him that having sex with Lily was ok by him? No, he didn't ... did he? James figured he'd go with no, but maybe a different perspective would help him make sense of all of this.

He got up and walked down the hall to his Uncle Andrew and Aunt Reese's room. If anyone could figure this out for him it was Andrew.

He knocked and hear his Aunt Reese call, "Come in."

He walked in, "James, dear ... are you alright?"

"Probably not. Is Andrew here?" He asked."

"Yes, he's taking a shower," she looked at his face, "I'll go get him."

A minute later, Andrew walked out of the bathroom, a towel around his waist, "James?"

"I need to talk to you."

"Sure, kiddo; let me get some clothes on."

They walked around in silence before settling in the library.

"So, what's on your mind?" Andrew prompted.

"I ... well ... ok ... I want to tell you what happened."

"Ok."

James took a deep breath, "Alright, I guess this all starts after I took Lily up upstairs."

"Yes, we all saw that," Andrew said with a grin.

"I kissed her goodnight, but she'd forgotten a box in my travel bag. So we went and got it and she told me my Christmas present was in the box. Of course, I wanted to know what it was."

"Of course."

"And she said no, but I could have a consolation gift. So she well ... she rather pounced on me. Since ... well it's kind of a long story that involves her mistaking Sirius for me and pouncing on him instead, but anyway ... she was just so pretty, I had to kiss her and then Dad walked in."

"Ouch," Andrew said, wincing.

"Yeah, and he saw me pretty much pinned to my bed by Lily, kissing her like there was no tomorrow."

Andrew shook his head, obviously trying not to laugh, "Double ouch."

"Agreed," James said with a sigh, "Then after Lily got back to her room, Dad pretty much implied that I was only interested in Lily for sex because she was pretty."

"He did what!?!" Andrew exclaimed, his face turning serious, "James, that doesn't sound like him; maybe you misinterpreted what he was saying."

"I think he might have been doing his little 'devil's advocate' thing, because he said some confusing thing about how he wanted to make sure that I knew what I thought, or something like that."

"Oh, I get it. I think he wanted to make sure you knew that you weren't with Lily for looks or sex or something like that."

"Yeah, I guess, but that's not what's really bothering me; it's what he said after that. I mean, he pretty much told me that he and mom slept together before they were married."

"He did?"

"He said I was born a little less than 9 months after they were married."

"Everyone knows that you were born early, kiddo."

"I know, I've known that my whole life. But right as Dad was walking out the door he looked back and said, 'You were born late.'"

"You're kidding me!"  
"No, I'm dead serious and I'm completely freaked out right now."

"There's no need to freak, James; I mean it's pretty normal these days not to wait until you're married."

"Gods, don't tell me you didn't wait either," James groaned, putting his head in his hands.

"Hey, I'm not saying it's a bad idea to wait; in fact, it's a great idea if that's what you want to do, but it's not like you'll be struck with a lightning bolt if you don't," Andrew paused, "As long as you use protection, of course, because there aren't any guarantees on the lighting thing then."

"Well, I'm waiting."

"So you and your gorgeous girlfriend making out on your bed was ..."

"Just that, me and my gorgeous, amazing, wonderful girlfriend kissing on my bed and nothing else," James shook his head in amazement, "I have to tell you Andrew, I never really thought about it before, about what I wanted to do about sleeping with Lily, but I think that I really do want to wait until we're married. It would just be so much more ... special, I guess, if we waited."

"You realize," Andrew said, grinning, "That your father was probably trying to manipulate you into that decision all along."

"That does sound like something Dad would do."

"Well," Andrew said, slapping James' shoulder, "Let's get to bed, it's Christmas Eve and I know for a fact no one would bat an eye if you went in to wake up your girlfriend at some insane hour, like three in the morning, and conveniently forgot to wake her up and curled up with her instead."

James laughed and they headed back toward their rooms. While he changed into his pjs James wondered if he'd ever be able to look at anyone in his family again without his mind replaying, "It's pretty normal not to wait until you're married." And what about his mom, how could he ever look her in the eyes without hearing his dad saying, "You were born late."

His family was officially nuts and they seemed intent on dragging him down with them.

Ah ... what the hell.

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Hey! Thanks for all of the reviews. I'm glad fluff is ok with you guys.

The next chapter is going to be a while in coming. I have exams next week and am completely swamped, so I have no idea when I'll be able to post again.

Daystar - You are seriously the world's best beta! I have no clue what I'd do without you.


	14. In which Lily celebrates Christmas

It's not mine; it's J.K. Rowling's.

Chapter 14: In Which Lily Gets Slightly Squished by James

Or

In Which Lily Celebrates Christmas

She couldn't breathe. She was trying to, but no air was coming into her lungs. Something was pressing on her chest, not letting any air in.

She fell to her knees; cold hard rain was battering her already bruised body.

She had to get up.

She had to keep running.

She had managed to escape the fortress, but that wasn't nearly enough.

She had to get out of this barren waste land.

She had to be far away by the time the Death Eaters came looking for her.

She had already received one mercy; how many more could she expect?

She had to do this on her own. Out here, there was no Severus Snape to look the other way on guard duty and let her go.

She had to breathe. The air still wasn't coming. The fear was pressing down on her like a physical weight.

She had to get some air or she'd lose consciousness. And if that happened, she'd wake back up in her cell to death.

Tom would kill her.

She had nearly escaped.

She had nearly beaten him.

He would rape her and kill her, enjoying every minute of it. She knew this with the utmost certainty.

She had to breathe.

Why weren't her lungs working?

She was starting to fade away; the lack of air was causing her vision to slowly disintegrate into blackness.

Her last thought was, _But I'll never see him again. I'll never have the chance to wake up in his arms. I'll never say I love you._

Then the darkness was complete.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Her eyes opened in the darkness.

She tried to sit up, but the weight was still on her chest. She struggled against it, panic taking over her body. Then the weight was gone and she could breathe.

Sweet air filled her lungs.

She was alive.

She was breathing.

She was shivering. Shivering? It was so cold. She had been warm; what happened to her warmth?

Her fingers spasmed on the sheets, convulsively clutching at them and a pitiful cry escaped her mouth. It was so cold; where was her warmth?

As suddenly as it had gone it came back, surrounding her, soothing, comforting, cradling her.

She let herself float into it, basking in the safety it offered. She felt her eyelids droop and she was lost in the unconscious pit of sleep.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Lily woke up slowly. She took a deep breath of air, savoring it. She slowly wiggled her toes and arched her feet, feeling life flowing into them. She only opened her eyes when she was ready to face the soft light filtering through the curtains.

The world had taken on a surreal quality in this light. She looked at her hand lying on her stomach. It looked larger than she remembered. She flexed her hand. It didn't move; odd.

She reached her other hand out and touched it. It felt warm and full of life; why wasn't it responding? She ran her fingers off the hand and up the arm, only to find that this arm wasn't her arm. She turned and found herself looking at a sleepy eyed James Potter, who was just waking up.

"Morning, love," he mummered sleepily, moving his hand from her stomach to her face. He kissed her forehead gently, while Lily's mind raced. Why was he in _her _bed?

"James?" She said, reaching out and touching his chest; not quite believing that he was actually there, in her bed.

"It's Christmas," he said, wrapping his fingers around hers.

"Why are you here?" Lily said, trying to process what was happening.

James looked startled at her question. He pulled back from her and Lily was flashed back to the darkness and the loss of warmth she had experienced.

"No!" She cried, desperately reaching out toward him, trying to control her panic and keep it from overwhelming her.

"Hey, calm down," James said, moving closer and wrapping her in his arms. She felt his warmth fill her as her breathing returned to its normal pace. Her heart was still racing, though, from fear of losing her warmth.

"This happened last night, too; are you ok?"

Lily trembled. Last night she'd dreamed of the night she'd escaped, but she hadn't been able to breathe.

"I couldn't breathe."

"I'm sorry," James said, looking guilty, "I didn't realize I was holding you too tightly."

"Why are you here?" Lily repeated.

James blushed, a rare look on his handsome face, "I came in to wake you up since it was Christmas and all, but I rather forgot to wake you up and just snuggled up with you instead."

Lily laughed, "You're such a liar."

"I am, but I couldn't help myself; you're so beautiful when you sleep. You look like an angel."

Lily smiled at James' silliness. She took a deep breath, "You're very warm."

"Really?"

"And you smell nice."

James laughed, hugging her tighter. "I suppose we had better go downstairs," he said after a moment.

"Yeah, I guess I have to get all of my presents down there."

"No need, Dad does a charm that puts them all under the tree."

"Really?" Lily said, amazed. That would be a tricky charm to arrange.

"You bet," James said, pulling her out of bed, down several hallways, the main staircase, and into a cozy room Lily hadn't seen yet. It was very nice, with a large Christmas tree in one corner decorated with tinsel, multi-colored lights, and homemade ornaments. Lily sighed happily, enjoying the feeling of Christmas. It was apparently late since most of the family was already up and spread out on the couches and armchairs arranged around the tree.

"We were wondering when you guys were going to get down here," Matt said. He'd personally introduced himself to Lily yesterday and seemed to be a very pleasant man. "Now we get to wake up Joe and Mary!"

James laughed and told Lily, "We always throw water over whoever is the last to get up on Christmas."

"And you didn't get me up sooner?" Lily said, surprised he was willing to run the risk of getting a soaking by his slightly crazy aunts and uncles.

"Sorry," he said, grinning at her, "But Aunt Mary and Uncle Joe are always the last up, so I wasn't really worried."

Taking a quick glance around the room, James pulled Lily over to one of the unclaimed arm chairs and they squished into it together. About 5 minutes later, a soaking wet Mary and Joe showed up, looking quite annoyed.

"Why can't we sleep in?" Joe whined.

"Because we need you to open up your Christmas presents so we can remember what we gave you," Matt said, laughing, "Unlike you young people, our memories are beginning to go."

So the opening of presents started.

Lily had gotten everyone really cheap gifts. It wasn't her fault she was on a tight budget. It was a little uninspired, giving mainly soap and carmel covered popcorn, but she'd been working spur of the moment, so she deserved a break. And really, her gifts wouldn't have been bad gifts because everyone likes soap and food. Unfortunately all of James' aunts and uncles had gotten her expensive gifts.

Oh gods. She was so embarrassed. She just wanted to sink into the arm chair and disappear forever. They'd gotten her expensive reference books she'd only dreamed of owning, a new cauldron set that must have cost a fortune, a 100 galleon gift certificate to Madame Malkin's, and from there it seemed to only get worse.

The worst one of all was from James' mom, Krista. It was the worst because Lily had no freaking clue what it was, and whatever it was, it looked extremely breakable and extremely expensive. It looked like ... well, actually it didn't look like anything she'd ever seen before; she had no clue how to even begin describing it. The utterly horrible thing was that everyone else knew what it was, or was putting on a really good show pretending they did.

They all kept going on and on about how nice Krista was to give that to Lily and Lily just smiled and kept repeating, "Thank you, it's so lovely; really, you shouldn't have." It was going pretty well too, but James as usual knew her too well.

She was so tempted to shove a sock into his mouth as he said, "You don't know what it is, do you?" ARGH! The betraying little git! How could he do this to her?

It turned out the whatchamacallit was actually a hop-er-an-do ... at least that's what she thought James had said and she still had no clue what it did. As James had said it was a hop-er-an-do (or whatever he said) she'd smiled and said, "Oh, that's just what I figured it was," and kicked him none to lightly in the leg, needless to say he'd finally gotten the point and shut his trap.

Lily's only relief were the presents from James' dad. He seemed to follow Lily's philosophy of cheap last minute shopping, except his gifts were designed to draw a laugh. He'd given her a 10 step guide to Potter men that looked to be scrawled on the back of a voided will. Still, she couldn't help but smile as she read it. Her personal favorite was number 4: _'the key to breaking bad news to your Potter is to do it while you're at a quidditch game and he has just taken a large bite of his hot dog'_. She'd have to keep that in mind. It sounded very useful. 'Sweetheart, I blew up the house trying to bake cookies for our son's class.' Yep, a quidditch game would sure soften that blow.

Tristan had also gotten Krista a new set of plates, which set everyone laughing.

Tristan really liked James' gift of Doom and Devastation. James had quite exaggerated his story of how he got them, but it was still really funny (Tristan always insisted on getting a story with his gifts and it had been really funny watching Matt, who apparently had really forgotten what he gave everyone, come up with a story out of nowhere about a pocket watch). After learning from James that the fish needed water, he left to go to the kitchen and stick them in the bowl with Rainbow, the product of Lily and James' transfiguration experience.

While he was gone, he missed Krista opening Lily's gift of a hand knitted scarf. Lily had knitted it in her spare time and had planned to send it to her sister via the muggle post, but had figured since Petunia would probably burn it, she might as well give it to someone who would at least keep it, even if they wouldn't wear it.  
And best of all, Krista said that Lily's presents were by far the best wrapped. The holly and cranberry strands she'd used to accent them were so adorable. Hehe.

James shot her quite a look after that comment and it probably meant something along the lines of 'if you ever think of wrapping things with holly leaves again, DON'T!' Lily just rolled her eyes', honestly, it wasn't her fault that after getting busted by Tristan last night she hadn't been able to sleep, and the presents did look good.

"Here," James said, handing her a medium size, sloppily wrapped present and blushing. Lily smiled; so this was his present. She tugged at the packing tape that he'd wound all the way around the entire package.

"You don't have any scissors, do you?" Lily asked, because it didn't look like there was any other way to get this present open.

"Scissors?" James repeated looking confused.

Lily nearly keeled over. How in the world could he not know ... oh yeah, she could just use her wand. Oops.

"Never mind," she said, "I'll just go get my wand."

James finally figured out what she was talking about and said, "Oh no, I'll do it. I shouldn't have used so much tape."

"Understatement of the century," muttered the newly returned Tristan.

James bounded out of the room to go get her wand. After he left, she realized that he had no clue where it was.

"What do you think it is?" Mary, at least the slightly damp hair made her think it was Mary, asked excitedly.

"I have no clue," Lily said, giving the box an experimental shake. It was kind of heavy. She had no clue what he'd have gotten her. Knowing him, it was probably a book on his favorite quidditch team so he could read it to her or something.

"Probably something utterly atrocious," Tristan said, and Krista smacked his arm.

"You know he tries, dear," Krista reprimanded her husband, "Just pretend you like it, sweetie, and we'll find him something better to give you for New Years."

Lily shook her head, "I'm sure I'll love it."

"That's the spirit," Matt said, "I'd completely buy that."

Lily tried to think of a way to inform them that she really did think she'd like it just because it was from James, but gave up as James bounded back into the room out of breath.

"I couldn't find your wand, Lils, so I got mine and you can use it."

"Thank you," she said, accepting his wand.

She never really felt comfortable using other people's wands. She waved it experimentally over the package to see if it would cooperate with her, and to her surprise the tape flew off of the present and bundled itself into a neat roll at her feet. She wordlessly handed the wand back to James, who looked as though he was about to faint from the sheer excitement of waiting for her to open his present.

Lily pulled off the wrapping paper, which, of course, had little quidditch players zooming around on it (James was so predictable), to reveal a smooth wooden box with a delicate golden latch on the front. It was about the same size as a book, but perhaps a little bit smaller than her school text books. She glanced up at James and gave him a happy smile before she carefully flipped the latch up and lifted the lid.

She looked down and saw what had to be hundreds of hair ties. She leaned closer and noticed that they were, more specifically, her hair ties. She felt a silly grin spread over her face; he was giving all of the hair ties he'd stolen back to her. She started laughing and snatched a tie dye one he'd stolen in 5th year off of the top and placed it over the one already in her hair.

"What do you think?" Lily asked James excitedly, spinning her head to show it off.

James was grinning like a maniac, "So you like it?"

"Like it, James?" Lily exclaimed, jumping to her feet, letting the box fall, and enveloping James in a hug, "I love it! I'll never have to buy hair ties again and I can finally get my favorite black one you stole in 4th year back."

"I didn't realize I had one of your favorites," James said, looking worried.

"It's ok, James, it's not like I bothered to ask for it back," Lily said, releasing him and bending down to scoop the hair ties back into the box.

"And if you had I wouldn't have given it back to you. I was such an idiot in 4th year."

Lily laughed at James who was working himself into a frenzy. "Don't be so hard on yourself," she told him, "You'd have offered to give it back. You'd just have demanded a date in exchange." Lily put on a mock thoughtful look, "And then I'd have told you to just keep it."

They both laughed and Lily went back to scooping the ties back into the box, smiling at James' thoughtfulness in actually keeping all of them, while James attempted to explain the hair ties to one of his uncles who apparently couldn't quite understand why giving a woman hundreds of hair ties was actually considered a decent gift (especially since they were hers to begin with).

Lily paused as she found a small, midnight blue tissue paper square, folded and taped mixed with the remaining hair ties. She looked up and caught Tristan's eyes. He smiled encouragingly and nodded. Lily picked it up; it felt heavy (for tissue paper), like it was wrapped around something. The room had gone quiet. She looked at James.

"I actually bought that," he said, probably more for his uncle than Lily.

Lily grinned childishly; this was like opening a chest of treasure and finding another chest hidden in the gold. She tore easily through the tissue paper and into her hand slid an exquisite necklace with a gold lily charm hanging from it.

"It's beautiful, James," she whispered, holding it up in front of her so she could see it better.

"It's got tons of defensive charms on it," he said, kneeling beside her on the floor, "So you should wear it all of the time."

"I will," Lily said, promising him.

"I did the spells myself," he told her proudly, "Well, Dad helped a little, but since I did them, they'll be stronger."

"Stronger?" Lily questioned. That didn't make much sense. Tristan was head of Auror Defense his spells should be far stronger than James'.

"I can explain that," Tristan interjected, since James seemed confused about how to put his thoughts into words and kept opening his mouth to say something then stopping and closing it again, "Voldemort can break defense spells easily enough when he puts his mind to it. The only thing that trips him up is if there is something he doesn't understand in the spell, like love, so James' love for you is, of course, included by his subconscious into any spell made for your safety and that strengthens the spell innumerably."

That explanation got her a shy smile from James.

"Thank you," She said, grasping his hands in hers, the necklace tangling in their combined grasps.

"Here let me put it on you," James said, pulling it out of her hands. She turned and he slipped it around her neck fastening it in the back. Then she felt a tug on her hair and her eyes went wide as her hair tumbled around her shoulders.

"Why you scoundrel!" She cried, turning toward him. He had jumped to his feet and was backing away, holding her hair ties in his hand. "Give them back!"

"I can't," he told her, looking solemn.

"Why ever not?"

"I need to start a new collection." He grinned boyishly, "Besides, this tie dye one has always been one of my favorites."

Lily rolled her eyes, laughing, "Fine, I'll just get out another hair tie." She grabbed a fluffy green one off of the floor and put it in her hair. She stuck her tongue out at him and he laughed, pocketing the two hair ties he had stolen.

(Christmas continued in the next chapter)

-------

Yay! I updated and did personal responses. Sorry I only did chapter 13 reviews, but I'm so behind by now I figure there's no point in doing the old ones unless I want to get stressed out. I'll try to get the next chapter (which is a continuation of Lily's POV on christmas) up as soon as possible.

The sad thing about all of this is that I actually updated quicker after exams than I do normally. What's with that?

**Daystar **- I earned mondo niffer happy minutes and I failed my exams. yay!

**Katalina **- They are over! Now we just have to do those two squirrelly days in between now and the break.

**DestinyCalls** - thanks for reviewing!

**drumergirl90** - also thanks for reviewing.

**AnGeL-GiRl - XxX** - I'll admit, not my best work. I haven't had anything happen in what seems like chapters. And your right, no flow, but I'm only perfect in my dreams.

**Jackster222** - sorry about my lack of certainty in updating, I just don't work well under time constraints.

**Jen-bob-ohio **- sorry about the wait, if I could not take exams I would. In fact I'm typing this while I should be studying for my french exam

**Rowenhood **- another prank? umm ... I'm actually not that creative, I can try though, but I don't really think it would fit in with the story, since I've already got most of it planned out.

**Sydney** - thanks for the review. Sorry for the fact it stops, but all good (or semi-decent things seem to do).

**Lils-X **- Thanks for all of your reviews. I really appreciate them.

**JamesLvr4eva** - yeah James' dad surprises me too. I know as the author he shouldn't, but he just keeps sneaking on to my lap top and writing these crazy things for himself to do

**Ashley** - As soon as you read this, I'll have updated and now you get to wait again for me to come up with another chapter. Sorry.

**Dramaqueen141691 **-Yeah exams suck. Good luck with yours. Thanks for reviewing.


	15. In which Lily gives presents

It's not mine; it's J.K. Rowling's.

Chapter 15: In Which Lily Has a Slight, Minor, Completely Life Changing Setback

Or

In Which Lily Gives Presents

After the hair tie incident, Lily and James got situated back into their arm chair. As they were doing this, James' aunts and uncles opened a few more presents.

In a lull between presents, Lily turned to James and said, "You have to open my present now."

James jumped to his feet and hurried over to the tree, pulling her excellently wrapped present out from beneath the tree; he started to rip the wrappings to shreds before he even got back to the chair.

"You haven't even read the card!" Lily reprimanded, all the while smiling at his enthusiasm.

James looked sheepish and pulled the card off of the mutilated front of the box. He read it and looked up at her, puzzled.

"You can open it now," she told him.

He pulled off the paper and tried to get the lid off of the Welks box (Belks, but not (I love Belks, did all of my Christmas shopping there)). Lily giggled as he realized she'd taped it closed. He deftly ran his fingers under the tape, breaking it in half. He looked up at her gleefully and then pulled the lid off to find 2 neatly folded t-shirts. He looked at her surprised.

"You devil, you can't honestly expect me to wash them and give them back to you."

"But they don't smell good anymore," Lily whined, trying not to smile, "Please!" She put on her puppy dog eyes.

In all of 5 seconds, James had agreed to wash them and was offering up the rest of his shirts for her use as well.

Tristan coughed and said, "I have a strange feeling there's a story behind this."

All of James' relatives nodded in agreement.

"Lily wants me to wash these shirts for her," James said as if that alone explained everything.

Lily, blushing, finished explaining, "I rather stole them actually, so I'm kind of giving them back to him. There's just a high probability I'll steal them back in the future, so now really we're just re-using shirts."

"I thought you said Sirius stole your shirts," Krista said.

"I thought it was him, but I caught the real culprit," James said, pulling Lily to him and kissing her nose, "And she may have as many shirts as she would like."

"It's not my fault they're more comfortable than mine," Lily informed him.

"Of course not," he agreed, sneaking a kiss.

Lily fended him off as he came back for another kiss, "You haven't opened it all yet," she told him.

"I haven't?" He said, examining the mutilated wrappings he had left on the floor.

Lily laughed at him and bent down, fishing through the wrappings, and pulled out a small jewelers' box. "You didn't think I would just get you shirts for Christmas, did you?" Lily teased.

James took the box out of her hand. It looked dwarfed in his large hands and he seemed to be worried about breaking it.

"Just to warn you," Lily added quickly, "I got this before we started going out, so it's not quite as ... thoughtful as your gift."

He delicately flipped the top open and his eyes lit up. She couldn't help but wonder what it was that made him so happy about her small present. He'd gotten much better ones today, like that new broom, but he seemed happier getting the new Head Boy badge from her than when he opened that broom.

Now, you may ask why he needed a new Head Boy badge and really, you don't want to know. But that's never stopped a determined young lady from telling anyone. You see, the badge James received from the school with the note telling him of his placement of Head Boy only made it to the 2nd day of school. In a prank gone horribly wrong, (that Lily only found out about because she was snitching pain cream from the hospital wing when Sirius and James came in) Sirius had some how ended up eating James' badge (Which says a lot about the seriousness with which James went about his head duties). After the nurse magically removed the badge, James didn't particularly want it back, not to mention it was bent past the point of being even vaguely recognizable, so he'd left it with the nurse. Lily had asked him about it later and he'd informed her that he was just going to make do without a badge. He obviously didn't know that it would be quite simple to obtain a replacement, so Lily had done it for him. She had just planned on sending it to him anonymously for Christmas.

"Look!" James said, beaming as he showed the new badge to his dad, "She got me a new Head Boy badge."

"Why did you need a new one?" Krista asked suspiciously. She wasn't mad at him was she? Uh-oh, Lily hadn't meant to get James into any trouble with her present.

James shrugged, "I suppose you could say it's rather lost."

Krista tossed her hands into the air, "Well, you better not lose this one."

"I won't." And it was obvious he wouldn't, since this one had come from Lily.

James pulled Lily on to his lap while they watched more presents being opened and Lily had some fun playing with his hair. She was putting it into spiky little clumps, held together with her hair ties. He looked really funny, but he didn't seem to mind much and kept whispering to her about how beautiful she looked.

Soon there was only one present left under the tree, which was from Lily to Tristan. She really hoped he liked it because she'd put a lot of effort (comparatively speaking) into it. She'd had to dredge up memories she really would have preferred to have left forgotten.

She watched eagerly as he opened it, waiting to see his reaction. She was surprised when Tristan burst out laughing.

Were her drawings that bad?

When Tristan finally stopped laughing, he told her, eyes twinkling, "I'm going to hang this in my office, it's absolutely brilliant." He turned her drawing out so the rest of the family could see it, "A joke map of the Voldemort's fortress; the guys at work are going to love this."

He looked at it again, chuckling, "I can't wait to hear the story behind this one."

Story? Oh right ... story. Ummm ... uh-oh. This wasn't a good thing, since Tristan didn't quite understand what her gift was. And by that very fact, the story was going to be a little bit ... awkward. She should have given him caramel popcorn and told him that a copy machine spat it out at her while she was walking around muggle London. Knowing Purebloods, he'd probably have believed her.

"Well, this summer when I was in Baramore, my cell mate was the lady whose husband built the place. So, of course, she knew the layout because she'd done the decorating. Gods," Lily laughed sharply, "She spent so much time bitching about how the Death Eaters had messed up her artistic vision. Anyway, she made me memorize the layout because she figured it would increase my chances of escaping successfully. And since you're the Head of Auror Defense and all, I figured that a floor plan of Baramore might be kind of ... useful ..." Lily trailed off, painfully aware of everyone in the family looking at her with their mouths hanging wide open.

"So I just sketched out what I remembered," Lily said, deciding to just keep on plowing, "Then I spiffed it up and bit and well ... there you are. I'm sorry the land around it's a bit vague, but it was dark when I got out, so I couldn't see much."

"You ... you escaped Baramore?" Tristan said, his voice filled with disbelief. "This is an actual map?"

"Yeah, it's kind of a long story, but check out the Dark Lord's bedroom," Tristan looked down, his mouth forming an 'O', "You see that passage that leads outside?"

He nodded.

"That's actually a secret passage on the inside of his closet. He doesn't know it's there. Up until about a minute ago, I was the only living person who knew about it, but now I have a little bit of a secret passage club going, don't you think?"

Lily laughed sourly, "It pissed our dearest lordling off to no end when I escaped. He hates being outwitted by anyone, especially a muggle born. Of course, now that I've told you, he'll undoubtedly be even madder. But what's the point of keeping it to myself when it could help people?"

All the while she'd been talking, James' grip on her had been tightening.

"Miss Evans, I don't know how I can ever thank you for this gift," Tristan said, looking truly touched, "This is the most valuable present I've ever been given. Saving that one birthday," he said, grinning fondly at his wife, who smiled at James.

"You were such a good birthday present, James. You just had to get out into the world early to celebrate your father's birthday."

Strangely enough, James blanched at this comment instead of smiling like everyone else. He laughed nervously and tugged at his shirt collar. He was sure acting strangely.

Then Tristan started laughing. "You'll get over it, boy," he said to James.

Since all the presents had been opened, everyone started getting up and going their separate ways. Most of the men were going to look at the map and most of the women were going to the kitchen to work on the big meal for that night; Andrew and Reese had disappeared and no one seemed inclined to comment on that, and Mary and Joe were loudly announcing they were headed back to bed and would kill the next person they saw with a bucket of water.

Soon James and Lily were the only ones left.

"Lily," James whispered, his eyes filled with worry.

"What's wrong?" Lily asked.

"I ... you ... Baramore, Lily. Why didn't you tell me?"

"James, I didn't want you to worry." Lily made a gesture trying to get across the feeling of the whole event being in the past. "I didn't see any reason to bother you about something done and over with."

"Lily, you being trapped in a cell is something I _want_ you to bother me about. Ok?"

Lily sighed, "Alright, next time I get thrown in a cell, I'm make sure you're the first to know."

He looked at her and seemed to decide he wasn't going to get a better offer, so he nodded. "Fine, flower."

Lily felt an inner tremor of fear, "James?"

"Mmmhmm ..." He mummured. He seemed to be pretty occupied with kissing his way down her neck.

"Please don't call me that."

James looked up, raising an eyebrow, "Why not?"

"I just don't like it," Lily snapped. She stood up, getting away from him and paced to the other side of the room.

"Alright fine, I won't call you that anymore. So what do you want to do?" James asked.

Lily looked at him playfully, feeling much better, "Want to slide down the banisters?"

James laughed and dragged her out of the room to the main staircase with its amazing polished banister.

That night at dinner, James spent nearly the whole time sending her puppy love stares that were driving her crazy with the urge to kiss him. Matt, however, declared he didn't think he could stomach sitting beside Lily any longer unless James stopped. So James pouted and stopped. Lily was very disappointed until his foot started rubbing hers under the table. He was sure getting the hang of playing footsy.

James walked her back to her room that night after a playing a game of War against his Uncle Andrew that had lasted for hours. She'd been about to die after the second hour of watching them flip the cards out, and each seem to end up with the exact same number as they'd started with. She didn't think it was physically possible to win that game. In fact, the only reason it had stopped was because Lily had 'accidentally' knocked over the entire table, causing them to lose their decks.

They stopped in front of her door and Lily felt a tugging feeling in her gut.

"James?"

"Yes, love?" He whispered, hugging her.

"You know I love you, right?" She didn't know why, but she felt like she had to make sure he knew.

"Of course I know. I love you too, more than anything."

Lily held on to him tightly. Strangely morbid thoughts running through her head. What if she never saw him again? What if he fell in love with another girl? What if ...

"Are you alright, Lils?"

"Yes, yes, I am," Lily said, and knew she was. All those 'what ifs', they weren't going to happen, not to her and James. This was meant to be.

"Sleep tight," she whispered.

"Don't let the bed bugs bite," James finished for her. He pulled her close, kissing her lightly.

As he turned to go to his room, she pulled him back kissing him long and hard, unable to get enough. She didn't want to let him go.

"Lily," he breathed, sounding like a drowning man.

She reluctantly let go of him and watched as he backed across the hall never breaking eye contact with her and then disappeared into his room.

"I love you," she said to the empty hallway.

Walking to her night stand, Lily took off the gorgeous necklace James had given her. She gently ran her fingers over it admiring the way it seemed to radiate good feeling. She was about to change into her PJs, when she was suddenly struck with the intense and insane longing to go make a snow angel. She remembered how much she loved them and the brilliant feeling of lying in the snow recapturing your childhood. Besides, James had promised her snow angels and she sure hadn't seen any yet.

Throwing on James' cloak, which he had given her to wear, she carefully made her way to the kitchen. When she reached it without getting lost, not even once, she did a little happy dance in the dim glow of the night-light on the wall. She took the door on her left that led outside and made sure that the door didn't lock behind her. She didn't want a repeat of the incident two nights ago.

The snow was so beautiful and pristine. She walked about 50 steps from the door and threw herself on the ground, moving her arms and legs to make her angel. She laughed, enjoying the cool pricks of snow on her unprotected hands. She lay there a bit looking at the clear sky. It was so peaceful. She felt a sense of safety pervading her senses, the lasting uneasiness from her gut feeling in the hallway dissipated.

What had she been worrying about anyway? It was a laugh that James would ever fall in love with anyone else, well, except maybe their kids; she expected him to love them as well as her. Kids, with James. Merlin, she couldn't wait! She could see them now with their beautiful little faces. Some would have his hair, some hers, some his eyes and bad eyesight, and some her green eyes. She could keep going forever. She just hoped they had at least one girl. She didn't think she could keep her sanity if she was trying to raise a whole house of Potter boys. She'd definitely need Tristan's handbook to Potter men then. She sighed happily; the future had never been so bright or inviting.

She sat up carefully. She jumped as far as she could as she got up, trying to keep her footprints from marring her angel.

She turned and looked at it happily. Her snow angel urge had been appeased. She giggled, looking at it. One day she would be making snow angels with her kids. She could see James out here with them, laughing as he looked at his wife on the ground with their children. Her heart was so full.

Brimming with happiness, she turned to go inside and ran into someone.

"Sorry," she said automatically.

"No need to apologize, my flower," the man replied, "No need at all."

Lily tried to say something, but her mouth wasn't forming words.

"Speechless?"

That got her going. She was never speechless.

"Hardly, I was just pondering how you came by the nerve to be anywhere near the Potter's house."

"Yes, it was a pity I had to order those unspeakables' deaths, but they were getting to close to my plans."

"But, pray tell, my dear," he whispered, moving closer, his sick breath flowing over her, "What would the Potter's be able to do to me?"

"I don't know, but it probably wouldn't be pretty."

"I agree, just the opposite of your beauty." He moved to run a hand down her cheek and she backed away, accidentally trampling footprints on her angel.

"Enough talk, flower. It's time to leave." He held a hand out to her.

"I'm not going anywhere with you, Tom."

He flinched at her use of his name, then snapped out an arm, grabbing her and pulling her to him.

She didn't struggle. What good would it do? He'd just hurt her more. She did, however, keep her body stiff and eye him like he was a lower life form.

"Strong as always, but not strong enough," he said, his lips disgustingly close to her own.

He pulled out his wand and her world filled with pain, but she didn't scream. He'd have a silencing charm up anyway. What good would it do?

She shouldn't have come outside. She should have kept on the lily necklace. She'd promised James she would. She'd broken her promise. At that thought, her heart filled with more pain than any curse could cause her.

The Dark Lord stopped the curse.

"Why don't you scream, flower?"

"I won't give you that satisfaction," she ground out.

He grunted, "I do _so_ love your fire."

"What do you know of my fire?" Lily said bitterly, struggling to push herself to her knees.

"I know that I want it," he said, roughly grabbing her chin and tilting her head up, so she was looking at him.

She was being forced to supplicate to him.

Her heart filled with anger and she whispered her eyes flashing with her fire, "My fire is mine to give to whom I will and I would _never_ give it to someone as vile as you."

He tightened his grip on her chin and she knew she'd have bruises there come morning, but she kept going.

"I can't stop you from having my body," she said, triumph coloring her words, for she knew that she had won this argument, "But you will be sadly disappointed, for what you desire cannot be taken, it must be given."

"We will see what you are willing to give," he said, his eyes slits of desire and hate.

Then her head was hit viscously from behind and everything went black.

-----

Thanks for reading and EXTRA thanks for reviewing.

By the way, bonus points if you saw that I completely stole that line about Lily being to be able to give her fire to who she would from the LotR's because I love those movies so much.

heh heh heh ... on the subject of future updates, the magic 8 ball says that the outlook is bleak; sorry. Turns out that some genius in the school system decided that the senior exit project should be done in junior year, so that's what I'll be doing for the next month or so. There's only a few more chapters left, so I'm trying to get as much typed up as I can, but I'm not making any promises.

**Daystar** - My birthday - 2 days - we'll shoot rotten fruit - want to come? - better yet - let's celebrate early - tomorrow - I'll supply the shooter - and the rotten oranges - the green will never be the same again.

**Bagpiper** - I know who you are ... and I know your phone number ... so that means I can find out where you live if I want too ... I'm sure your mom would tell me ... Thanks for the review.

**Hannah/Prongs312** - I'm so so so sorry. I have no clue how I managed to leave you out. I hope that this response will kind of make up for it. And about the reviews, I have no clue. I don't even review stories I read. I'm so useless. SORRY!

**Ennui-EAF** - I'm not technically doing personal reviews, but I had to respond to yours about the wand thing. I was, at one point a long time ago, going to do something with Lily being able to use James' wand, but it kind of fell through the cracks. Basically, I just wanted to tell you good spotting, because when I first wrote that it was going to be a big thing (even if it's not now) and you should feel extra special.


	16. In which James goes to the ball

It's not mine; it's J.K. Rowling's.

Chapter 16: In Which James Cries Over Lost Love

Or

In Which James Goes to the Ball

Dear James,

I'm writing you this letter to inform you that I'm leaving; I'm going back to Hogwarts. I know you must be asking yourself, 'Why?', and let me say that the fault lies with me, not you.

Our whole relationship has been based on a lie. I've tried my hardest to make this work because I know how much it means to you, but I simply can't keep pretending any longer. I cannot explain what it is about you that makes your presence repulsive to me or the way my skin crawls when you touch me, but it is clear that these feelings are not going away, no matter how hard I try to over come them.

I am sure that there are many other girls out there who find you far more attractive than I ever could, and I hope that you can find happiness with one of them. After realizing that I could never hope to love you, or even see you as a decent human being, I'm sure you can understand why I had to leave. I would greatly appreciate it if you brought any possessions that I may have accidentally left at your house with you when you return to Hogwarts.

I hope that this break-up will not affect our professional relationship as Head Boy and Head Girl. I am sure we will both be able to conduct ourselves as professionals in spite of our differing desires. I believe it would be in our best interests if we cut off the time we have to work physically together instead simply splitting the work. If you are agreeable we can discuss these arrangements at the first Head's meeting of the new year.

Please thank your parents for letting me stay at your house over the holidays, for the most part I had a lovely time.

Sincerely,

Lily Evans

-

James threw his tie visciously against the wall. It was frustrating him; he couldn't get it tied right. He sank onto his bed. His life had been falling apart since Christmas.

Lily had left that night.

Just left.

Left him.

Left him with nothing but a note, saying that she'd never loved him, that she was going back to Hogwarts, that she didn't want to be around him anymore.

Tears started falling down his face. He'd been so easily fooled. He'd been so eager to love her, to be loved by her.

How could he have not seen it?

She must have been grimacing in disgust every time they kissed and he'd never noticed.

He let the tears keep falling. They ran off his cheeks, landing heavily on his suit pants.

He needed to get ready. Tonight was the New Year's ball. He had to put on a good show; he couldn't be sad.

The whole Potter family had to present one strong united front to dispel any rumors that Voldemort had ordered the elimination of not just Edna and Walter, but all of the Potters.

He didn't want to stop crying, though.

His heart had just been torn to shreds; he deserved a chance to mourn.

What scared him most of all was that, though torn to shreds, his heart still belonged to the lovely, irresistible Lily Evans.

How he longed to hate her, but he couldn't. How could he hate the woman he loved?

He was going to be in so much trouble when he went back to Hogwarts. She would be there, constantly reminding him of what he'd lost, of what she still possessed.

"James?" His mother called, tapping lightly on the door.

"Go away!" He cried miserably, curling up on his bed.

He didn't want to go anywhere, especially not a ball where every girl's parents (or so it seemed to him) were trying to introduce their daughters to him.

"James, mate, this is pitiful," Sirius' voice sounded through his reverie.

"Leave me alone," James muttered, pulling a pillow over his face.

"She was a bitch, James, that's it; a cold-hearted bitch who was just messing around with you. Let her go. Get your ass out of bed and come hit on all of the hot chicks at the ball tonight with me."

"What about Ally?" James whispered, filled with jealousy that his best friend hadn't lost his girl.

"Well, you can hit on the hot chicks with Remus."

"She's not a bitch," James said, more to himself than Sirius.

"Ally? Damn straight she's not."

"No, Lily."

"What are you talking about, James? Of course that girl is a bitch. She pretended she loved you and then left without even saying good-bye."

"Stop talking about the woman I love that way!" James screamed, sitting up and glaring at Sirius.

Sirius looked at him, his eyes filled with more sadness than James had ever seen his best friend display. Even more than when he had made the final break with his family.

"I wish I could help you," Sirius finally said, shaking his head, "I wish I could make you stop loving her or make her love you, but I can't. You have to move on. I know it'll be hard, but tonight's the first step. First you convince everyone else that she means nothing to you, and then you have all the time you need to convince yourself."

"I don't know if I can, Sirius. I love her. I don't want to stop."

"We can only hope that one day you'll be able to, James. I mean, you can't remain hopelessly devoted to her forever. You know you're the only heir to the Potter family. You're going to have to have kids at some point."

"I don't want kids unless they're hers," James growled, angry at Sirius for reminding him of the huge responsibility he owed to his family.

"No one said this was going to be easy," Sirius intoned, sitting down next to James on the bed and patting his arm.

"No," James agreed, standing up and retrieving his tie, "They didn't."

-

James ran his hand through his hair as he made his way down the stairs, keeping a carefully perfected mask of pleasantness over his features. His only betrayal was that his hand was sweeping his hair with more agitation than casualness.

His mother greeted him with a look that said, 'Don't mess up your hair anymore, mister.'

James shoved his restless hands into his pockets.

Sirius laughed at him while his mother and Aunt Mary tried to smooth his hair. James just let them. He didn't care about his hair. He didn't care about anything at all, except for one person and she wasn't going to be here.

He stood with his parents in the entrance hall and greeted the guests as they arrived.

He clasped hands with person after person, their faces blurring in his mind. The girls were particularly forgetful. He found himself taking one look at them and saying to himself, 'too tall, too blonde, wrong color eyes.' As the arriving guests were cutting down to a trickle, he realized that he had been comparing all of the girls to Lily. He felt anger at himself, and at her, bubbling up in his otherwise lifeless body.

His mother handed him one last girl's hand so he could greet her, and maybe it was the anger, but for some reason he showed interest.

"Pardon me, lovely lady, but I didn't catch your name."

"Colette," she said, giggling sickeningly. She was pretty enough, and the exact opposite of Lily, a tall, willowy blonde who looked like she didn't have a lick of sense in her entire being.

"Would you allow me the pleasure of escorting you in?" He asked with a bow. The anger was still fueling his actions, but he could also hear a little voice in the back of his mind saying maybe he could forget about Lily for tonight with ... was it Colette or had she said Cosette?

James was aware of his parents scrutinizing him as Colette/Cosette giggled again, and seeing her parents nodding enthusiastically, nodded as well. James offered her his arm and they followed his parents into the ballroom.

His parents opened up the dancing in the traditional first dance for those in love. He'd watched his parents dance this dance for as long as he could remember and, as always, they looked completely in love with each other. James felt the bitter hole Lily had left in him widen even farther. He had always stood on the sidelines, as he did now with Colette/Cosette on his arm. How silly he had been to imagine that he too could one day dance this dance. It had been even sillier of him to dream of dancing it this very year with Lily. He watched as the rest of his relatives and other couples joined his parents on the dance floor. James even spotted Sirius and Ally dancing on the edge of the crowd; he hadn't realized they were that serious.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the song ended. Eager to tire himself out, James asked Colette/Cosette to dance.

After several sets she pleaded that she was exhausted, so James escorted her back to her parents.

That done, he slouched over to his mom and sunk into the open chair next to her.

She grasped his hand. "My poor baby," she whispered tenderly, and James nearly broke down in tears. His mom understood. She saw that even though everyone else thought Lily was a scheming wench, he still loved her.

She gave him a tight hug and stroked his hair with gentle fingers, "I didn't see it either, James. You're not the only one she fooled."

James felt like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders when he pulled away. He hadn't been the only one fooled into thinking Lily loved him. His mother, a counselor trained to see through facades, had missed it as well. He wasn't as foolish as he'd though. Lily was just a better actress than he'd given her credit for.

His mother smiled at him and he smiled back.

He got out of the chair, standing straighter and went to find Sirius and Ally, so that he could tease them about their participation in the opening dance.

Predictably Ally smiled and Sirius blushed, pulling Ally to his side.

"I'm surprised you weren't out there too," Ally said.

James looked at her confused; who would he have danced with?

He looked to Sirius for an explanation, but found Sirius had a twisted expression on his face. That's when it hit him, Ally didn't know. Ally didn't know what her best friend had done to him.

"Ally, we need to talk," Sirius said, pulling his confused girlfriend away.

James sighed; he felt his depression starting to resettle on his shoulders.

He was about to head back to his mom when a blushing girl tapped his arm and asked for a dance. Deciding that dancing was preferable to sitting and brooding, he agreed and danced a few sets, switching partners without even noticing the difference.

Pulling out of the dancing, he went back to his mother, who had been joined by his father.

"Having a good time?" His dad asked.

His mother hit his father's arm and he started, "I mean ... umm ... the musicians are really good, don't you think?"

James rolled his eyes. "The band is good," he agreed.

"I'm glad you're trying to have a good time," his mother said, "I've already had several compliments on your excellent dancing."

James grumped, "I've always been a good dancer."

"I know, dear," his mother smiled reassuringly, "But you're putting on quite a show this evening. You've left all of your partners gasping for breath."

James scowled, "What are they, out of shape? Lily could dance circles around the lot of them."

He blanched as he realized that he'd mentioned Lily. He hadn't meant to mention her. He saw his father's look darken as he started stuttering.

"I mean ... umm ... what I meant to say was really that ... umm ..."

His father stood up, "Come on, I'll find you some distraction."

James trailed after his father through the crowd toward the drinks table, feeling ashamed of himself. How stupid had he been to mention Lily? Why did he always compare other girls to her? Well, at least he knew the answer to that one; she was simply better. That was an entirely depressing thought, seeing as he could never have her.

James ran into his dad when he stopped suddenly.

They were in front of Jason the Troll Wrestler. At least that's what James called him ever since he was a child. Jason was quite a hulking man, but with a kindly nature and it was doubtful he'd ever wrestled any trolls since he was quite anti-violence.

"Tristan," Jason said, nodding his head.

"Jason," his dad responded, "I was hoping I could borrow young master Lupin, if it wouldn't be too much trouble."

Jason laughed and moved to the side a little, revealing Remus, who he had been conversing with before his dad had interrupted.

"I hate to ruin your conversation ..." James' dad said, smiling.

All of them knew the real reason Remus was spending time with Jason was to avoid all of the girls who thought he'd make a 'dreamy catch'. Jason was always willing to help, and when said girls appeared, he would tell them in a menacing voice that he and Mr. Lupin were conversing, so they would have to wait their turn.

"Oh, no, it's fine Mr.P, we were running out of topics of conversation anyway," Remus replied.

"James is in need of some distraction. I was hoping you would help him do something nefarious. For instance," his dad said, skimming the crowd with his eyes, "It would be entirely amusing if Mrs. Richardson's hair was to develop a mind of it's own."

Remus and Jason both laughed. James just gave a weak smile. He wasn't in the mood.

"Planning the pranks for your own party, Tristan; that's kind of shady," Jason joked.

"I didn't hear him planning anything," Remus said with a wink, "Don't worry though, I'm sure James and I can come up with something that, of course, would not resemble any plans that have been made or not have not been made by the infamous Tristan Potter."

Remus finished off his speech by clapping James on the shoulder, a move that James hadn't been expecting and sent him stumbling sideways. Luckily Jason was able to grab his arm and pull him straight.

"What's up with you, little Potter?" Jason asked.

"Nothing," James said, a blush coloring his cheeks. He hated the embarrassment he felt at his inability to get over a girl, a girl he loved admittedly, but Potters weren't supposed to mope around heart broken. Oh no, they were supposed to bounce right back and meet the real girl of their dreams at the next ball, get married, and live happily ever after.

Jason looked skeptical at James' answer. No surprise there, James was also skeptical.

James heard his dad sigh, it was obvious that he was just as embarrassed by James' behavior as James was.

"James is having girl trouble," his dad said shortly.

James looked at the floor feeling miserable.

"I have faith that he'll feel better after a few pranks, though," his dad finished, giving James a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder.

"Yeah, little Potter, you aren't going to have any problems getting the girls."

_Except the one I want_, James added mentally. On the outside he smiled his thanks at Jason and allowed Remus to pull him away.

Remus rambled about the different spells they could use for the prank as they began walking. James felt extremely grateful to his friend. Normally Remus wasn't one for pranks, but he was planning one today to help James feel a little better.

"Now we just need to find a vantage point to do this from," Remus said.

Deciding he might as well participate, James said, "How about over there?" He gestured toward the statue, which stood next to the tapestry of an angel in the snow. That tapestry covered the fastest exit from the ballroom to the kitchen, which was always a good thing if something went wrong and a fast escape became necessary. Not that anything ever (well, hardly ever) went wrong when it was the Marauders pulling the pranks.

He and Remus situated themselves behind the statue. While they were waiting for Mrs. Richardson and her beehive hairdo to move into the opportune location for their prank, they talked about the killer Potions essay they'd been assigned to do over break. After a while, the conversation sputtered out and they were left without words in their own thoughts.

Mrs. Richardson came and went from the opportune location and neither of the boys made a move. They simply stood there in silence.

"You're brooding," Remus said finally.

"So, I feel like brooding," James grumped unhappily.

"Oh, come one, cheer up, James; Lily's been gone forever, it's time to move on!" Remus said, clearly trying to cheer James up.

"She's been gone a week," James said bitterly, "That's hardly forever."

"Everyone's worried about you. We all want to see you happy."

"Well, maybe I'm not meant to be happy!" James growled, squeezing his hands into fists.

"Sure you are, everyone is meant to be happy. You've just got to find the right girl and you'll fall madly in love with her and then never give another thought to this whole incident."

"Incident," James repeated with a laugh, that was just what it was an 'incident.'

Remus didn't pay him any mind and kept talking, "It can't be that hard, James. No girl in her right mind would refuse you. How about that girl you were dancing with at the beginning of the ball? She looked like she was a nice sort of person."

"Which one? Cosette ... I mean ... Colette ... oh, damn ... I don't remember which one's her name." James cursed his bad memory.

Remus gave a little laugh and in a false happy voice said, " I guess that means you won't be announcing you're in love with Cosette now, to the family. Or Colette," Remus added as an after thought.

"Yeah," James muttered. Then mimicking Remus, he also put on a fake happy voice, "I would say it's about as likely as me saying," James stopped for a dramatic pause, then continued still in the sugary fake happy voice, "Lily never meant anything to me, she was just a bit of fun."

Remus and James shared a wry smile.

"What a pair we make with our sarcasm and fake smiles."

"I know," James agreed, "But at least we have each other."

They both laughed.

"Look," James said, spotting Mrs. Richardson once again heading toward the right location for their prank.

"Shall we?" Remus said.

"But of course; we must do something to give meaning to our lives!"

Remus rolled his eyes, "Whatever you say James, whatever you say."

-

Thanks for all of the reviews about the last chapter. I now feel confident enough on the material to say officially that there will be two more chapters. Unless, of course, I decide to write more, which won't happen in the immediate future, but may at some point.

Since most reviews concerned it let me say ... of course she got kidnapped as soon as she took the necklace off, that's just the way these things work.

Daystar: You are so lucky I was sick or this would never have gotten updated.


	17. In which James' sarcasm bites him in the

It's not mine; it's J.K. Rowling's.

Chapter 17: In Which Lily Overhears Things, Promptly Misconstrues them, and Gets Herself into a Mess

and

In Which James' Sarcasm Bites Him in the Arse

As Lily stumbled through the back door of the Potter's house, she was in a decidedly bad mood. She slammed the door shut with a bang and violently tugged James' cloak out from where it had caught in the shut door. She tripped ungracefully over her feet as she walked toward the door that led from the kitchen to the rest of the house, all the while furiously brushing at the twigs and leaves that were clinging to her clothes. She stopped half-way to the door in the middle of the kitchen. Where was she going to go now that she was back? She huffed and muttered insults about Death Eaters as she thought it over, and then decided to go retrieve her wand from her room.

Shedding leaves and trailing curses, Lily managed to find her way back to her room. Turning the knob, she found that the door wouldn't open. Stupid dumb door! She kicked it a few times to vent the frustration she was feeling, then sank to the floor.

She felt like crying. All she wanted was to get into her room and get her wand back. That was all she needed; once she had her wand she could get out of here and never come back. The lily necklace would by nice to have as well; the protective spells would come in handy if her luck continued on the same track it seemed to be on lately. The only problem was that it had come from James.

How could she wear it when it hurt just to think about him? Why hadn't he come to rescue her? Or have, at least, sent someone to rescue her. It wasn't like she was a damsel in distress or anything, but it was certainly much easier to be rescued by someone with a wand then to get out of the Dark Lord's fortress yourself, without a wand, and then have to walk back to civilization while freezing your butt off.

She'd figured that James and his dad would have her out of Baramore in 2 days, tops. Really, she'd been guessing they would have her out of there before lunch of her first day. So she had waited for them and they hadn't shown up. They had the damn map, how hard could it be to get her out?

She slammed her fist at the door again, feeling like her heart was being ripped out.

Why hadn't he come?

Didn't he love her?

You just don't leave your true love to rot in a dank cell in the Dark Lord's fortress. She felt betrayed. She would have gone to rescue him from Hell itself without a second thought, and he wouldn't even return the favor.

How could she have been so foolish as to think that he'd changed, that he really loved her? How could she not have seen it? It hadn't even crossed her mind that he didn't love her, not once, except that night, that stupid night when Tom had shown up.

She sniffled a bit, trying to hold on to the rage that had gotten her this far. She couldn't succumb to misery; at least, not yet. She had to get back to Hogwarts, away from everyone who wanted to hurt her: James, the Dark Lord, Petunia ... She just had to get away. She had to find somewhere she could hide her weaknesses from the world.

Trying to stay angry, Lily stared at the tear in her pants, which she'd gotten from a tussle with a thorn bush.

Dumb Death Eaters, they'd let her escape the exact same way she had last time; out the Dark Lord's closet (really, it was quite a large closet).

After realizing James wasn't going to show up, Lily had, after a bit of angry storming, flirted and flaunted her way into the Dark Lord's bedroom. While she had waited most patiently for the vial sleeping draught that Severus had slipped to her, hidden inside her daily ration of bread, to take affect on the guard, she had poked around in the Dark Lord's bathroom. Who would have guessed he kept peroxide in there? Well, he probably wouldn't any more, not once he discovered what it could do to one's hair if placed in one's shampoo.

Lily actually grinned, thinking about it. She was having far too much fun changing the color people's hair as of late.

After her guard had commenced snoring, Lily walked into the Dark Lords closet and out of Baramore.

That had been two days ago. She'd spent the first day and night stumbling tirelessly through cold, uninviting woods. She'd fallen exhausted onto the door step of a quaint home the morning of the second day and the wonderfully kind old couple living there had given her some tea and let her nap on their couch.

She'd been utterly surprised when she'd awoken to hear them talking about making a trip to Diagon Alley. Through questioning she discovered that they were both wizards and would, in fact, be going to the Potter's house that very night (although, they hadn't told her the reason for their visit). They'd kindly agreed to let her off near the Potter's house (since she'd told them that she lived near there).

Lily had pushed her way through the woods and arrived at the rear of the Potter's estate. From there she had made her way to the back door, which led into the kitchen.

Leaning her head back against the wall, Lily closed her eyes, wishing she could just rewind this whole week and start over. First she'd smack James, then kiss him senseless, and handcuff herself to him, so she would stay out of trouble.

"If you want, I'll open the door for you."

Lily's eyes snapped open to see the illusion of the house shimmering in front of her.

"Now, I'm not technically supposed to since Master Tristan locked the door, and especially after what you did to James," she huffed angrily.

The house sighed as the door swung open, "But I do know that you are a nice person, even if you broke James' heart."

Lily looked through the open door, but didn't go in.

"What do you mean broke his heart?" Lily said bitterly. After all, he was the one who hadn't come after her.

The house looked at Lily surprised, "Well, what else do you think you did? Leaving him that horrid note at the breakfast table that said you never loved him. You could have _at least _told him in person. Poor James, he burst into tears right at the table, then stormed out and hid in the secret passage ways for the next 2 days so his father couldn't find him. He's been in a terrible temper since," the house sniffed dramatically," The worst, though, are the crying fits. He'll be in the middle of brushing his teeth and suddenly start sobbing. He's a wreck."

The house looked at her, "I suppose it's better you told him now, rather than letting him wait until the wedding day ..."

"But ... but ... I didn't," Lily sputtered, "I didn't send _any _letters and I _most certainly_ didn't send one saying I didn't love James. I wouldn't do that because I _do_ love him. I love him more ... more than anything ... more than life."

The house looked surprised, "Then why did you leave?"

"I didn't leave willingly; I went outside to make a snow angel and I ran into the Dark Lord. Merlin knows why he was out there anyway; well, he kidnapped me again, the ass. So I couldn't exactly help leaving. He probably wrote that letter too. I hate him so much!" She growled, gripping her fingers in the air in front of her like she was strangling an invisible person.

"That's awful."

"And now James hates me!" Lily wailed as the reality of everything the house had said settled in on her.

"Don't be silly," the house chided, "He wouldn't be crying all the time if he hated you."

Lily thought about that. Maybe the house was right. Well, now at least she knew why James hadn't come to rescue her. She had to forgive him, of course; the poor baby, thinking she hated him. He needed a hug ... and a good kiss. Silly of him not to have recognized it wasn't her handwriting. Although, she hadn't written him any notes before and that idiot of a Lordling probably had mimicked her handwriting anyway. He was too smart for anyone's good.

"Maybe I could go find him and explain things," Lily mused, "Do you know where he is?"

"He's in the ball room, I believe," the house's eyes glazed over for a second and then she nodded, "Yes, that's where he is."

"Alright," Lily said, hopping off of the floor and starting down the hallway, even though she had no clue where the ballroom was. She figured that the best way to get anywhere in this house was to walk like you knew where you were going and hope like hell you would end up somewhere you recognized.

"What are you doing!" The house practically shrieked, sounding scandalized.

"Going to the ball room," Lily replied slowly, wondering what the house was so worked up about.

"You can't possibly go dressed like that," the house told her, clucking like a mother hen as she surveyed the mess Lily had made of herself.

"Why not? He's seen me looking much worse than this."

"It's a ball," the house said, speaking as though Lily was rather slow. Lily still had no clue, what the house was on about.

The house rolled its eyes, "They'd throw you out if you went in like that."

"Oh," Lily said, realization dawning on her, "The New Years Ball." It was New Years Eve already; how time flies when you don't have a clock.

"Do you have a dress?"

"Well, I bought one, but ..."

"No buts," the house said, shooing Lily into her room, "I'll have you fixed up in no time, dear. You'll look so stunning, James will be absolutely unable to think of anything else."

Lily laughed, "Good luck with that endeavor. Do you plan on giving me a new body?"

The house shook her head, "There's no need to play down your beauty, darling."

Half an hour later, Lily had taken a shower, dried her hair, put on her dark green ball dress, and was receiving a lecture from the house on how to put one's make-up on to correctly to cover up a black eye (which was of importance since Lily had one that hadn't yet begun to fade).

Finally the house pronounced her ready to go and Lily followed her through the familiar hallways to the kitchen.

"That passage will take you right to the ball room," the house said with a gesture to her right, "The end is covered in a tapestry; all you have to do is push it aside and you'll be there."

The house sighed happily, "You look so pretty. Turn around once, so I can make sure everything's in place."

Lily turned obediently in place, hearing the dark green fabric rustle around her legs. She nervously crossed her arms, feeling the delicate embroidery of the bodice against her skin. She stepped a little on the hem and had to move her hands down to lift the full skirt from under her feet, leaving her feeling slightly exposed by the neckline. Stopping when she once again was facing the house, she put her hand to her throat, feeling the lily necklace that hung there.

Touching it filled her with warmth it was almost as if James was there himself, wrapping his gentle arms around her, offering safety and well being.

"Alright, go on, you look perfect," the house said, getting misty eyed, "James is so lucky that he some how managed to steal your heart."

Lily smiled, "He is an excellent thief." Then she gave a shaky curtsy, "Thank you for all of your help."

"It was no problem, dear. Now hurry along."

Lily turned and hurried down the passage way. She reached the end fairly quickly and could hear the sounds of the ball from the other side of the tapestry. She smoothed her skirt and carefully patted the curls that were arranged on top of her head. Feeling ready, she went to lift the tapestry.

She paused, though, when she heard James' voice, muffled by the tapestry say, "She's been gone a week."

Lily had been gone a week, was he talking about her?

She couldn't quite make out the next comments due to the interference from the tapestry, so she moved to get closer; then something wet hit her head and fell to the ground. Distracted, Lily pulled away from the tapestry and pulled out her wand.

"Lumos," she whispered. She stared for just a second puzzling at what she saw, but then decided that the puzzling just wasn't worth it. Honestly, how could you expect her to figure out how a goldfish, an actual _live_ goldfish, had contrived to fall from the ceiling and hit her in the face while she was trying to eavesdrop on James?

Lily quickly conjured a bowl of water and picked the poor little fish up, putting him in it. She was extremely glad that her transfiguration skills had worked impeccably in her effort to save the helpless goldfish. She picked up the bowl and made sure that Diver, as she had just decided to name him, was happily situated.

Then she hurried back over to the tapestry and was just in time to hear Remus, at least the muffled voice sounded like Remus, say "You're in love with Cosette, now."

She nearly dropped Diver and his bowl. Remus wasn't talking to James was he? James wouldn't have fallen in love with someone else so quickly, would he? Who else could Remus be talking to?

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts Lily leaned once again toward the tapestry and she heard the words that shattered her heart and caused her to sag against the wall feeling physical pain.

"Lily never meant anything to me; she was just a bit of fun."

James … oh gods … James had just said that. She shook her head, trying to deny she'd heard it, but his words were burned into her mind, flashing like a neon sign.

Nothing? It had meant nothing when he said that he loved her; when he kissed her; when he lifted her into his arms? She was so alone.

She felt anger bubbling up in her. She had worked so hard to get back to him. She loved him. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. And for all of that, she was _NOTHING_!

Her hands shook with rage as she clutched Diver's bowl to her. She took a deep breath as she heard James and Remus' laughter ringing out on the other side of the tapestry. She was filled with a reckless rage and, steeling herself, she grasped the tapestry and prepared to yank it aside.

-

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!

Sorry it took so long to get up, but with stupid things (senior exits and such) I haven't been able to update.

It seems I've confused some people, so let me say that there is only one more chapter left, now that you've read this one. I have to be honest and say I didn't expect anyone to actually like my story and having people read it is fantastic, but even for you guys (amazing as you are), I don't think I can change my story to make it longer. I've been writing and typing this as I go, but the conclusion has always been firm in my mind and we are there, so the next chapter is the end (Don't worry it's got a lovely happy ending). I hope you've enjoyed this as much as I have. And for anyone who's interested, I will be writing more stories, although not anything like a sequel.

**Daystar** - the brains and commas behind the operation, the girl who also gets the credit for the title about James being bitten in the arse ... congratulations on that ... it's a real achievement

**Dracoslilgirl4ever **- sorry you didn't like it, but it's supposed to be depressing and see the above chapter about the letter thing.

**Alandra Jade Hart** - thanks for the trust ... I won't let you down (unless I do, in which case I'm sorry).

**Goddess of Muffins** - thanks for the advice. I did actually think about that and where I put the page breaks last chapter had been for Lily's pov, but I decided I would just wait till this chapter to build suspense and let James wallow more thoroughly in his misery.

**JamesLvr4eva **- don't worry; it's a happy ending.

**sunlitmist** - no cliffhangers (kind of), I'm not counting this chapter.

**Lils-X** - don't get too sad, I'll get them back together soon

**CrEsCeNt Moon** - sorry, there really is only one more chapter, and they aren't really super long (you've definitely got my number on that), but I'll try.

**Hannah/Prongs312** - I don't watch Gilmore Girls, but some of my friends do. It's not really my type of show.

Also thanks to: **Blink182Rox, siriusforeva, ashley, HeartofGryffindor, Rowenhood, The Big Dance, drumergirl, Thayet Conte, Seren Lunar Echo, scullymulder**, and **eluding-you**


	18. In which Lily finds her true love, again

It's not mine; it's J.K. Rowling's.

Chapter 18: In Which Lily Punches Back

Or

In Which Lily Finds her True Love ... Again

Lily was filled with reckless rage and, steeling herself, she grasped the tapestry and yanked it aside. She watched with a faint bit of pleasure as the laughter disappeared from the two boys' faces and was replaced with astonishment.

Remus, in fact, looked like he was just about ready to faint from surprise and James was stuttering, "L ... Li ... Lily?" all the while opening and closing his mouth like a giant surprised goldfish.

Lily was sure she must have been quite a sight, dressed up all fancy in her green ball gown, holding a fish bowl, and looking like she wanted to kill something cough James cough.

"James," she replied as James pulled himself together and wiped the surprise from his face.

"What are you doing here?" James demanded coldly.

"I came back for my wand and then your house said I should talk to you, but apparently you've already found another girl to replace me," Lily said with a bitter smile.

James looked confused at first when she mentioned talking to his house, but then he had the audacity to look surprised, "Oh, I've found a girl to replace you, have I? Well, at least I'm not a cold-hearted, lying bitch."

Lily's mouth dropped.

Had he just called her a bitch?

And a cold-hearted lying one at that?

What a bastard.

She was going to kill him.

Smartly snapping her mouth shut, she turned to Remus. "Would you hold Diver for me?" She asked politely, holding out Diver in his bowl.

"O .. Ok," he said, accepting Diver's bowl and cradling it carefully in his arms like a new born baby.

"Thank you, Remus. You're so sweet."

She turned back to James and smiled sweetly at him while squaring herself up as she'd learned in self-defense class. Pulling her arm back, she gave him a wicked smile and then swung at his face, hitting him solidly in the eye. She resisted the urge to shoot her arm up and shout, "YES!" After all, she was more dignified than that.

James let out a cry of surprise and pain, stumbling backwards. He regained his balance after a few steps, but by that time, their little spat had the attention of the entire ball room.

Lily watched as James' eyes hardened. She hadn't even realized that his eyes had been soft and gentle before, but they'd been hidden by his glasses then. His glasses, which were now lying shattered on the floor.

She was suddenly afraid. She knew that James would never hurt her. At least the James she knew wouldn't hurt her, but this hard-eyed James, who looked scarier than the Dark Lord himself, there was no telling what he could do ... what he would do.

She watched in morbid fascination as he shook his head and gently reached a hand up to touch the undoubtedly painful area around his eye. She remembered how much it stung after she'd gotten her black eye. James bent down and felt around for his glasses, finding them he pulled out his wand and whispered, "Oculus Reparo." Standing up he looked at her, anger-filled eyes now hidden behind his glasses. Gods, he looked so handsome standing there, rippling with anger, hair all askew. If only he wasn't angry at her.

"Damn it, Evans!" James snapped, "That's going to bruise!"

"Aww ... poor baby Potter has a little black eye," Lily mocked, her voice filled with poison. "I'm sure it won't bother your girlfriend too much."

Her hurt and anger at being called Evans gave her more daring than she'd thought she had. He hadn't called her Evans since 5th year for Merlin's sake! The only thing keeping her from breaking down in tears at the mere thought was her sarcasm and anger.

"Girlfriend! I don't have a gods damned girlfriend," James said, his voice frighteningly controlled as he advanced toward her.

"Oh, so you're just playing around. I guess it's true what they say about leopards never changing their spots. I can't believe I ever even entertained the idea that you'd stopped being a player," she spat.

James stopped, staring at her in open mouth shock," I am _ NOT_ a player, Evans! I gave that up ages ago. You can ask anyone." He paused and looked mock thoughtful, "What I can't believe is that I thought I'd broken your heart of stone. I guess I was wrong; it's just as hard and bitter as ever."

As his words died away, Lily stared at him, meeting his eyes. She saw that beneath the surface of pain and anger that his eyes ... his beautiful eyes ... were filled with something else. Probably hate. But maybe ... maybe it was love.

Oh, who was she kidding; he couldn't still love her.

Besides, if he loved her why would he find another girl?

'_Well maybe he thought you abandoned him'_ a tiny voice said inside of Lily's head, and she blanched, breaking eye contact.

Oh shit!

She'd kind of forgotten about the letter thing.

What if he'd just been trying to prove he was over her? What better way was there to prove you didn't care about a woman than replacing her. That sounded like something his pride would spur him to do.

Potter pride.

It was so insufferable, but she loved it just as much as she did every other part of James.

She took a shuddering breath. "It's not stone," she said, her words barely sounding at all since she blew them out on a sigh.

And it wasn't. Her heart had been hard before James, but now, even after him, it wasn't rock, it was ice. Ice, and that could be easily melted with James' warm looks and gentle kisses. She'd been foolish to open herself up to that heat and let it melt her heart.

She straightened up, looking at James, who was examining the floor with apparent interest. She then looked at Remus, who seemed positively torn between his friends and appeared to be wishing the floor would suck him in.

Lily sighed; she didn't feel like fighting anymore.

"Tell your parents that the party is lovely, Potter," she said.

She reached her hands out toward Remus to take Diver back from him, but then stopped. She turned back to James feeling an overwhelming urge to tell him how honestly sorry she was. "I'm sorry about that letter; he shouldn't have done that to you."

As she swiveled toward Remus again, her arm was roughly grabbed by James.

"What do you mean 'he'?" James asked, his tone harsh, but his grip on her arm gentle after his initial tug.

"Exactly what I said. He had no right to do that."

"Stop dancing around the question, Evans," James hissed, his grip on her arm tightening.

Lily cringed back, feeling a tendril of fear wrapping around her.

"The Dark Lord," she said, tugging fruitlessly at her arm.

James flung her arm away from him with a look of disgust on his face. She stumbled backwards toward Remus from the momentum of his shove. Remus did a funny juggle of Diver's bowl as he tried to hold it and catch her as well, but she managed to do the job herself, grabbing his shoulder to support herself.

"Sorry," she muttered to Remus.

Remus looked worried. "Are you alright?" He asked quietly.

Lily, thinking he was referring to her black eye, said, "Yeah, it doesn't even hurt if I don't touch it." Of course, since she was talking about it, she reflexively tapped it with her finger, which made her cringe. She then shrugged sheepishly and gave Remus a small smile.

Remus looked even more worried now than he had before and he opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by James.

"How did you get a black eye?"

"Same way you did, Sherlock," Lily said, quirking an eyebrow at James in a way designed to make him feel hopelessly stupid.

"I meant," James ground out through clenched teeth, "Who gave it to you?"

"I don't know," Lily said truthfully.

"You don't know," James mocked, "I'm not stupid enough to believe that, Evans."

"Well, I wonder what that says about your intelligence level then," Lily shot back sarcastically, "because I honestly don't know who it was that gave it to me. I'm _sure_ you've heard that Death Eaters wear masks, right? Well, let me just tell you, masks kind of make it hard to tell who a person is, so I _don't_ know."

"What the hell are you talking about L ... Evans? Baramore was months ago."

"You know, Potter, my advice to you would be that next time you get some correspondence from me that announces my sudden departure without any of my luggage, _including_ my wand, you might want to wonder if it's actually from me because generally I do travel with my wand. And for your clarification: yes, my first trip to Baramore was over the summer, but where the hell do you think I spent the past week? Sleeping in the forest? Although," she added thoughtfully, "I bet the ground in the forest is much better for sleeping than those cots in Baramore. I do honestly believe that they are stuffed with horse hair."

"So you're saying that you didn't write that letter and Voldemort kidnapped you. Am I right?" James said, bitter sarcasm lacing every word.

Lily shouted, "Well done, Potter, you've finally figured out something intelligent!" Sending him a sickeningly pleasant smile, she started pretending to applaud his achievement.

James grabbed her wrists, stopping her claps. "Well, if you didn't write the letter, who did?"

"I don't know exactly," Lily said, feeling defeated; she had no way of proving who had written that letter, "But I'm guessing it was the Dark Lord ... I just know it wasn't me."

"Do you really expect me to believe that?" James said, shaking her by her wrists.

"You know what I think," he shouted, "I think you're a physcopathic liar, telling me all of this shit about Baramore! Maybe you're a **Death Eater**! Maybe that's why you never say Voldemort, you always say the Dark Lord, just like his servants!"

Lily pulled her wrists out of his grasp with a violent tug and slapped James hard across the face.

How dare he even imply something as vile as her being a Death Eater!

She shoved her left forearm right into his face to make sure he didn't miss what her point.

"No Dark Mark, James, and it's my right to call him what I wish. I'd call him Tom if you would know who I spoke of because he certainly isn't Voldemort. That's just a stupid make believe name he fashioned for himself and I refuse to call him that!"

James opened his mouth to retort, but Lily cut him off. "And you may believe me or not, but I'm telling the truth no matter what you decide ... I went outside Christmas night and ran into the Dark Lord; I have no clue why he was there or how he knew I would be. It was child's play for him to take me, I didn't even have my wand and I'd taken off the necklace ..."

Lily felt remorse flowing over her. She'd promised him she'd wear it and she hadn't even kept that promise a full day. No wonder he wanted another girl.

She looked up at James to see his eyes were calculating, weighing what he'd heard and deciding what he would believe.

She had always liked that about him, his decisiveness, how he was always able to make a choice and once he did, he never looked back.

But she shouldn't like anything about him.

She was supposed to hate him.

She couldn't, though.

She couldn't look into his eyes, clouded as they were, without feeling her heart soar with love because she _couldn't_ stop loving him.

She should, but then again, there were a lot of things in life she should do, but didn't.

James finally spoke, his voice thoughtful, emphasizing the fact he didn't want to believe her, but for the moment was giving her the benefit of the doubt, "Let's suspend reality for a second and say that you were kidnapped by Voldemort ... in my backyard ... last week. Voldemort then decided to write me a letter from you ... for no particular reason ..."

"Maybe you wouldn't come after me," Lily interjected.

James shrugged and nodded, "And you then managed to miraculously escape and return to my house."

Lily nodded.

James cocked his head to the side, "So why in the bloody hell do you march in here calling me a player?"

"Because you are one, you dimwit! I'm barely gone a week and you've already found some other girl!" Lily said, her voice starting low, but ending in a wail. She wanted to burst into tears just saying it out loud. How could he do this to her? She loved him!

James looked like he was caught between two buses coming at him head on.

"I haven't found another girl."

"Then what was Remus talking about!"

"Remus?"

"Me?" Remus' voice chorused with James'. "I haven't said anything about James finding anyone, girl or otherwise, in at least a week."

"You didn't say he found her!" Lily spat back, heartache burning her senses, "You said he was in love with her."

Lily paused as her voice trembled before pressing on, "Then James said that I meant nothing to him."

"I would never say that!" James cried, as Lily tried to wipe up the tears that were leaking out of her eyes.

Remus, opposite of James' indignation, which was quickly turning to embarrassment as he realized what he had said, looked like he'd had a sudden epiphany.

"But you did, James," Remus said, then shook his head, "Not that you meant it. Remember? I was pestering you about that girl you danced with and then you couldn't remember her name ..."

Remus trailed off as a look of horror crossed James' face.

James turned to Lily, who in addition to being thoroughly confused was still rather preoccupied with the fact that James had implied that he still had feelings for her.

"Lily, I'm so sorry," James gushed, "I was being sarcastic and Remus was saying I _wasn't_ in love with her. I couldn't even remember her name and she's absolutely nothing compared to you and I was just being an ass and moping around and I didn't mean it at all Lily ... you could _never_ mean nothing to me ... you're my everything."

As soon as he finished, James colored with an intense red blush that could even match one of Lily's worst.

Lily didn't know what to say. What was there to say?

He loved her!

This was the time when the sappy music needed to start playing and he needed to sweep her off the floor in a passionate kiss. James didn't seem to be catching on to that fact though.

He wasn't even looking at her, just inspecting the floor. Remus was readjusting his grip on Diver's bowl and the rest of the room seemed to be holding it's breath.

She didn't know what to do, then she saw Sirius' head pop out of the crowd. He waved to get her attention and mouthed something at her.

Lily narrowed her eyes at him in an effort to show that she had missed his words.

He mouthed them again.

She shook her head, she still hadn't gotten them. She was a terrible lip reader. She mouthed back, 'What?'

Sirius tried again. Had he said 'fish something'? What in the world was he talking about?

Sirius gave up after that and announced loudly, "Kiss him already, will you!"

And it was Lily's turn to blush as James jerked his head up and made some rude hand motions at his best friend. James then launched into some very creative death threats while Sirius pretended to be terribly hurt by James' words.

It hit Lily then that Sirius was right. James loved her (at least that was what it sounded like), she loved him, and they were on the verge of surviving their first major 'I hate you, you hate me' fight. If they beat this, they could beat anything. And if he didn't want to kiss her then she would damn well just kiss him!

"And I'll chop your corpse into tiny pieces and feed them ..."

Lily never found out what James was planning to feed bits of Sirius to since she was far to busy kissing him.

At first James was clearly surprised, but he quickly pulled her close to him, cradling her head with one hand.

"Lily, I love you," he whispered into her ear, after they pulled apart.

Lily pulled back a bit from his embrace to look him the in the eye and said proudly, "And I love you, James."

He laughed joyously, pulling her into a kiss that lifted her feet clear off of the floor. He set her down with a flourish, smiling like he would never be sad again.

Lily looked over at Remus who was looking slightly bemused and then the silence of the room stuck her.

Was everyone watching them? Lily felt a blush coloring her cheeks.

She looked at James for direction as to what they should do. A bow would probably be appropriate after the show they'd just put on, but he didn't seem to know what to do either since he was staring at Sirius.

Obviously he'd been using some sort of top secret silent Marauders communication because a second later Sirius rescued them by stepping out of the crowd and saying, "Well, that was jolly fun. And no more lovers quarrels for you two," he humorously shook a finger at them like they were naughty children, "They do numbers on the rest of us."

Everyone laughed and James pulled her closer to his side, "Sorry, Padfoot, we'll try to keep it at a minimum."

"Excellent," Sirius said, slapping his hands together, "Now I'm going to steal your girl for a dance."

Sirius grabbed Lily's hand and started twirling her around in an off beat dance that the band quickly picked up and began playing. Soon other couples joined in as well, which allowed James to sneak over to the sidelines. Lily spotted him being teased by his father while he let his aunt and mother heal his eye.

Lily let her head sink forward onto Sirius' shoulder, groaning.

"What is it?" He asked.

"I gave him a black eye and then I declared my love for him in front of all of these people," Lily whispered mortified.

Sirius laughed. "He probably deserved the black eye for being such a moping prat. I swear, he was driving us nuts with those crying fits. And as for the love thing, I'm sure James couldn't be happier that all these people know, because that will only save him the trouble of going up to each of them personally and telling them he's the luckiest man in the world because you're in love with him."

Lily blushed, hardly believing that all of this had happened. But they loved each other and in the end that's what really mattered.

As the dance finished, Sirius gallantly escorted her over to where James was sitting.

Krista looked up at Lily and smiled, quickly squeezing Lily's free hand. Lily felt like glowing as Tristan complimented his wife's gesture with a wink. These were such wonderful people to still accept her after the letter incident ... and after she'd punched their son in the eye.

James stood up and gravely accepted her hand from Sirius.

"I'm off then," Sirius said with a wink, "I've got to go beg forgiveness from the old ball and chain for abandoning her."

"Forgiveness from whom?" Ally said, coming up behind Sirius with her eyebrow raised.

Sirius winced and turned, "Did I say ball and chain? I meant lovely angel of beauty and light of my heart."

Ally laughed and kissed his cheek. "I didn't realize you were the type of guy who was into chains," she said as she pulled him away.

Lily and James both burst into laughter as they watched Sirius being led away like a puppy dog on a leash.

As their laughter died, James deftly tugged her into his arms, settling his chin on her shoulder.

Everything seemed perfect.

Lily spun in his arms and kissed him gently, pulling back a little to whisper, "I love you."

"I love you too," James said, looking like he was close to tears he was so happy.

He leaned down and kissed her again, pulling her even closer to him and wrapping his arms securely around her waist.

Tristan coughed and they pulled apart, blushing.

He and Krista soon headed out to mingle a bit and reassure any offended guests that while they were not sorry for the amusing display that had taken place, it wasn't intended to offend anyone.

After thinking that she'd lost James forever, Lily couldn't be close enough to him. She also was having the urge to say "I love you" every 3 seconds, an urge she was giving in to.

Remus walked over with Diver a little bit later when Lily was curled up on James' lap.

"Oh, thank you, Remus," Lily said, standing up and taking Diver off of his hands. After setting Diver down on the small table next to James' chair, she hugged her friend.

"You're the friend who never fails," she told him.

Remus beamed, "Thanks, Lily, and congrats to you and James on getting together ... again." He nodded at James (probably more secret Marauders talk).

"Happily ever after is the least of what I wish you, Prongs."

James stood up and hugged Remus as well, "You'll find someone as well, Moony." Pulling back James whispered conspiratorially, "I'd make you my best man, but Padfoot would kill us both and frankly I'd rather not spend my wedding dead."

James and Remus exchanged a grin and Lily cut in, "Best man? We won't be needing one of those for quite a while."

"I know, love," James said, running a hand down her cheek, "But I like to plan ahead."

He and Remus exchanged another grin, this time accompanied by gleeful glances.

Remus leaned toward Lily, who was eyeing them suspiciously, and said, "You ought to see the dress he has picked out for the flower girl."

Lily laughed and Remus melted back into the crowd.

"You don't really have a dress picked out for the flower girl do you?"

It seemed only a few minutes passed before the band leader announced the midnight dance.

James pulled Lily out on the dance floor with him. They fell into step next to Ally and Sirius, gently spinning through the notes.

The song came to an end as the countdown began ...

10 ...

She was with James ...

9 ...

He was smiling at her ...

8 ...

He was whispering that he loved her ...

7 ...

He was smiling as she was whispered that she loved him ...

6 ...

His eyes were bright with love and joy ...

5 ...

He was gently running his hand through her hair ...

4 ...

His own hair was a wreck, going every which way, as always ...

3 ...

His eye was beginning to tinge black behind his glasses ...

2 ...

He blushed as she touched his cheek lovingly ...

1 ...

He leaned down, his nose brushing hers ...

HAPPY NEW YEARS!

His lips were on hers ...

She knew that this was right.

That they were meant to be.

That no matter what they would face the world together ...

Hand in hand.

Look out world, here we come!

The End

Thank you to all of my reviewers! Thanks for reading and reviewing; you guys are awesome!

Special thanks to Daystar the most awesome beta in the whole world. She also gets credit for the chapter title cause I'm not feeling very creative and made her do it for me.

CzarinaKathryn


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